The Schoharie News was created as a project to provide better news coverage to residents of Schoharie County, originally focused on highlighting political news that no other media format bothered to report. However, as our stories have evolved, so has our perspective of whether county residents are receiving across the board coverage.
Which, we believe, they are not.
Between the Cobleskill and Stamford weeklies, maybe six town and three village board meetings are covered in any given month, leaving residents of the other thirteen municipalities without adequate information concerning their local government and what is occurring within its purview. As such, something needs to be done, and we're going to do it.
Thus, every month the Schoharie News will attend two board meetings from across the county on a rotating basis to provide every town and village resident with coverage of at least one public gathering over the course of the new year and every year subsequent we are in existence.
Now, we cannot do this by ourselves. We need you, the humble reader, to assist our endeavor to expand news coverage in Schoharie County by (1.) letting us know which board meetings we should attend (note: the Schoharie News traveled to Conesville to cover their organizational meeting yesterday, but got lost and turned around after two dogs started chasing my car) and (2.) making this financially feasible for myself.
Here is a look at December's stats: the Schoharie News published seventy-six articles, four of which were the result of two separate county board meetings, three covered local high school sports, two dealt with Schoharie County acquiring new vehicles, another two covered community Christmastime events in addition to approximately ten hours of interviews and sit-downs with local officials to gain knowledge on a variety of issues.
Add in all the other crime-related articles, opinion pieces and general politics, and the Schoharie News has covered a newspaper's worth of stories in the past month alone while finishing my fall semester at SUNY Cobleskill and working around 26 hours per week at a local deli, all without any extra pay.
Thanks to our generous readers the past three months, the Schoharie News has enough funds to keep our office open and accessible until April in the Village of Middleburgh, however, that doesn't take into account the work aspect of running this project that consumes fifteen-twenty hours per week on an already thinly stretched schedule.
Which is where you guys can make a difference.
If every week one hundred readers of the Schoharie News donated one dollar via pay pal or mail, such as thousands of residents do when they pick up a copy of the Cobleskill or Stamford paper, that would be enough to cover monthly overhead costs of maintaining an office and gas, while earning a bit of profit for myself.
This project isn't about creating a full-time career for myself, which I wouldn't be opposed to if that was possible, but to provide better news coverage of not only the stories everyone else is publishing, but of those no one else is willing to publish, which is why we're all in this together and any amount of support you can offer is greatly appreciated.
If you have any tips, concerns or questions about advertising or donating, the Schoharie News can be reached by email at aaaabraves@yahoo.com, or snail mail at Timothy Knight, P.O. Box 891, Middleburgh New York, 12122.
Again, thank you all for your continued support and please let me know which town or village board meetings we should cover to bring our readers better coverage of the county they live in.
Here is a look at December's stats: the Schoharie News published seventy-six articles, four of which were the result of two separate county board meetings, three covered local high school sports, two dealt with Schoharie County acquiring new vehicles, another two covered community Christmastime events in addition to approximately ten hours of interviews and sit-downs with local officials to gain knowledge on a variety of issues.
Add in all the other crime-related articles, opinion pieces and general politics, and the Schoharie News has covered a newspaper's worth of stories in the past month alone while finishing my fall semester at SUNY Cobleskill and working around 26 hours per week at a local deli, all without any extra pay.
Thanks to our generous readers the past three months, the Schoharie News has enough funds to keep our office open and accessible until April in the Village of Middleburgh, however, that doesn't take into account the work aspect of running this project that consumes fifteen-twenty hours per week on an already thinly stretched schedule.
Which is where you guys can make a difference.
If every week one hundred readers of the Schoharie News donated one dollar via pay pal or mail, such as thousands of residents do when they pick up a copy of the Cobleskill or Stamford paper, that would be enough to cover monthly overhead costs of maintaining an office and gas, while earning a bit of profit for myself.
This project isn't about creating a full-time career for myself, which I wouldn't be opposed to if that was possible, but to provide better news coverage of not only the stories everyone else is publishing, but of those no one else is willing to publish, which is why we're all in this together and any amount of support you can offer is greatly appreciated.
If you have any tips, concerns or questions about advertising or donating, the Schoharie News can be reached by email at aaaabraves@yahoo.com, or snail mail at Timothy Knight, P.O. Box 891, Middleburgh New York, 12122.
Again, thank you all for your continued support and please let me know which town or village board meetings we should cover to bring our readers better coverage of the county they live in.
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