How Can News Better Serve You? Join The Open Newsroom
(THE CITY) June 28, 2019
THE CITY is launching a year-long project with the Brooklyn Public Library called The Open Newsroom. Our two organizations will convene 24 neighborhood meetings at six library branches over the next year to better understand how information finds its way to and through a community — and to explore how to make local news more collaborative.
We are teaming with the Brooklyn Public Library because libraries and newsrooms are natural partners. We both aim to be hubs of information, conversation and community. And we both love New York.
THE CITY, the Brooklyn Public Library and the community members who join us will explore how to bring these three points together and use what we all learn to create a different model for sharing and participating in local news and information.
Sure, this sounds like a tall order. That’s why we’re holding so many meetings.
We will visit the same six libraries four times each, inviting the same folks back each time (and hopefully they’ll bring others). The meetings are open (and free) to everyone, of course.
The six libraries include: Brighton Beach, Flatbush, Marcy in Bedford-Stuyvesant, New Lots in East New York, New Utrecht in Bensonhurst and Red Hook.
In the first set of events, we will get to know each other. We want to understand what’s important to you, and how you get and share information. Some of the things we’ll ask:
• Whose information do you trust more: TV or your best friend?
• Is Facebook your only news feed? Let’s talk about that.
• Does the only news you need come from the weather report? (Thank you Simon and Garfunkel for that line.)
And while these questions might seem a little flip, we think they’ll help us figure out how we can improve the quality and quantity of information your community receives.