Upstate Focus begins at the D&C
The wise NYCO once wrote that:
Simply put, upstate New York has no (New York) Times of its own. Buffalo residents read and watch Buffalo news; Rochester residents read and watch news happening in the Rochester and Finger Lakes market; Syracuse residents’ news-consciousness generally extends no farther south than Ithaca and no farther east than Rome…
Aside from media exposure for politicians, the underlying disadvantage of upstate New York’s lack of coherent media coverage is that consensus before elections often fails to emerge. Overarching issues relating to upstate New York fail to find a real definition in the public understanding — aside from repeated confirmations of the very very obvious…
In most states in the U.S. this fragmentation of media markets exists, but when it comes to New York State affairs, one can’t sit back and wonder why upstate politicians and upstate voices get little traction (or get cynically manipulated into predictable chutes). In upstate New York, the fragmentation of local media markets matters in a way that it might not matter in, say, Iowa. It matters because upstate New York lives right next door to the most awesomely powerful mass media vortex on the planet….
Upstate New York literally can’t hear itself think.
So whatever one thinks of the D&C editorial page, this is welcome news from James Lawrence:
There is a lot of excitement here on the Editorial Board this week as we prepare for the launch of Upstate Focus, a collaboration involving eight editorial pages at upstate newspapers….We’ve joined together to tackle issues of common concern…Many topics will focus on Albany, but we’re going to be flexible enough to take on local and national issues that are particularly important to upstate’s future,too.
I know you’re all thinking “My God, he’s convinced seven other papers to start writing about gangster rap all the time.”
Let’s hope not. If this project is done right, it could really make an impact on the fragmented state of upstate media.
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[...] Remember the announcement at the D&C Editorial blog about an “Upstate Focus” project? [...]