NewsBeat

2 NewsBeat April 2020 PA NY Mark your calendar Friday, June 12, 2020 NYPA/NYPS Board of Directors Meetings NYPA Foundation Board of Directors Meeting (Location to be determined) Thursday, September 24, 2020 NYPA/NYPS Boards of Directors Meetings NYPA Foundation Board of Directors Meeting The Otesaga, Cooperstown, NY Friday & Saturday, September 25 & 26, 2020 NYPA Fall Publishers' Conference The Otesaga, Cooperstown, NY Friday, November 20, 2020 NYPA/NYPS Board of Directors Meetings NYPA Foundation Board of Directors Meeting (Location to be determined) Tuesday, January 5, 2021 NYPA Better Newspaper Contest Deadline Thursday, April 8, 2021 NYPA/NYPS Boards of Directors Meetings NYPA Foundation Board of Directors Meeting The Gideon Putnam, Saratoga Springs, NY Friday & Saturday, April 9 & 10, 2021 NYPA Spring Conference and Tradeshow The Gideon Putnam, Saratoga Springs, NY C L I P & S A V E NewsBeat A NEWSLETTER FOR NEW YORK'S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS Published by the New York Press Association 621 Columbia Street Ext., Suite 100, Cohoes, NY 12047 518.464.6483 • 518.464.6489 fax • www.nynewspapers.com Executive Editor — Michelle K. Rea Layout & Design — Rich Hotaling By JUDY PATRICK — NYPA vice president of editorial development s our world is upended by the COVID-19 virus, New York state's local newspapers are stepping up. We're providing essential information about this virus as well as helping bring the people in their communities together. This is what we do. While the crisis is global in scope, its impact is local. And that's our specialty. People are concerned about what's happening to their neighbors, their schools, their churches, their libraries and their favorite stories. We can tell them. As we sit isolated in our homes, a newspaper has the ability to bring us together in ways more profound than Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. This move to connect people is in part inspired by our mission to reflect our communities. But from the examples I've seen to date, the outreach also strongly reflects each paper's desire to use its skills to serve, to contribute and to heal. To be sure, there is a wealth of basic news to cover about this virus and its impact on our lives. The consumer economy has come to a near standstill. People and businesses are suffering, and we are telling those stories. But in the days ahead, we will also tell the stories of neighbors helping neighbors and of great acts of generosity, kindness and sacrifice. And with those stories, we will knit our communities together. We've already begun. Take the Smithtown News in Suffolk County. There, exiled college students are being paired – safely by phone - with older folks. Smithtown's Jennifer Paley says her paper is also setting up a network of other people to also read to seniors over the phone. A Papers step up For many seniors, she noted, the interaction does more than ensure they're up to date on the news. "Many are lonely and having a voice to talk to for a while can be uplifting and something they look forward to," she said. Out in western New York, The Daily News and The Livingston County News has launched a COVID-19 Community Support Map. The interactive Google map pinpoints locations for food pantries, school food distribution sites and mental health resources. The plan, said Ben Beagle of the Batavia Newspaper Corp., is to keep adding to the map as information about the community's needs comes in. The first step in the process: Asking readers to send in suggestions. The map replaced the paper's online calendar, which was becoming decimated by virus-related cancellations. Its success was nearly instantaneous; with just a couple of hours of launch, it had surpassed 4,000 pageviews. "So we were able to replace a web feature that was going to see decreasing usage with a feature that delivers vital information to our communities," Beagle said. The Altamont Enterprise is offering free "Corona classifieds" on its website and in print for people in need of services such as childcare, drug and food delivery for the quarantined, those offering those services and notices from businesses explaining the accommodations they've made. "One of our joys as publishers of a small- town newspaper is helping people in our communities connect to each other. We hope in the days ahead as we continue to report on sometimes difficult news that our informed readers will show compassion to help their neighbors in need," the Enterprise's Melissa Hale-Spencer wrote on her website.

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