| . TheVillageGreen is an experiment - born of frustration over the slow disappearance of local news coverage. As newspapers struggle to survive in an age of rising production costs, and shrinking circulation, comprehensive local news coverage has become a thing of the past. Reporters and photographers are losing their jobs in newsrooms across the Country as publicly traded corporations buy out newspaper after newspaper. Corporate leaders have to answer to share holders and profits are king. It all seems so simple to the Wall Street "bean counters" - why have a newsroom staff of twenty, when 10 will do? Staff reporters who used to cover five towns now cover 10. As experienced and higher paid staffers leave they are either not replaced, or newspaper owners hire recent graduates at a fraction of their salaries. In the past, these hires would have trained under veterans who knew the ropes and knew the towns, now many of them must fend for themselves, and sadly, it shows. It is wrong, and it is eroding the trust readers should have in their news coverage. Even as circulation figures plummet, many corporate newspaper owners still do not get it. Don't get us wrong we are rooting for newspapers to survive. They are "The Free Press" upon which our democracy is based. If they don't make it, we are all in trouble. There are newspapers here still doing good reporting, as dedicated editorial staffs try to cover the same number of beats with a shrinking pool of people. To do it, municipal meetings once covered routinely now only see a reporter when a known controversy comes before the governing body. It is the best that can be done, but in all honesty, it is not enough. For journalism to do its job, it must give people the information they need to live their lives well. For journalism to do its job well, it should give people that information in time for them to use it to make a difference. TheVillageGreen hopes to provide residents in Plumsted and Pemberton Townships, as well as surrounding municipalities, a forum to communicate information about their home towns. We would like active give and take comment, as well as regular contributors to post information on municipal meetings, and more importantly, what goes on in municipal meetings. To be fair, we also want to give the people who serve in municipal government an equal opportunity to have their say. It must be discouraging to work week after week before empty rooms, and only get feedback from the citizens when they are angry about something. We want information on local happenings, and pictures and Bulletin Board items…we are looking for the stories that make up the lives of the people in our communities. Consider us your "Village Green", a place to go to kick back and meet your neighbors. We are a place to share the news you have, and get the news you need." We are citizen journalism at its most basic. We are an experiment, and it will be interesting to see where we go from here. Susan T. Gazzara TheVillageGreen, LLC |
| Who we are, and why we are here… |
| TheVillageGreen,LLC P.O. Box 21 New Lisbon, NJ 08064 Office - (609)- 893-1414 Cell - (609) 220-1113 editor@thevillagegreen.org |
| Jump on The Information Highway Meet your neighbors! Share the news you have and get the news you need! |
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