• Bay News: Thou Doth Protest Too Much


    by on Jun 1st, 2010

    Happy birthday, Bay News! You’re 65!

    But you knew that. After all, you recently released a pile of dead tree to pat yourself on the back, jam-packed with indefatigable praise of your own accomplishments.

    And you deserve it, too. From your humble beginnings as a paper for servicemen, to your development into a Brooklyn-wide chain, and your eventual snowballing with one of the world’s largest media conglomerates (Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, owner of such paragons of journalism as the NY Post and Fox News) – you’ve come a long way.

    But could you be nearing the end of the line?

    I don’t think so, personally. At least not any time soon. But I have to say, your little self-congratulatory blurb was riddled with such passive-aggressive nattering against this newfangled interweb that I have to wonder if you guys are getting a little worried. Just, you know, a little. Maybe.

    I mean, the whole “We’ll be around forever” thing sounded a little desperate. Like you’re responding to some imagined Greek chorus that’s been foreshadowing your death for some time. And your swing at blogs – well, why would you even bring it up? No one else did…

    Just take a look at this:

    Whoa, man. Settle down. The lady doth protest too much, methinks. No one was saying you wouldn’t stick around for decades to come. I mean, there’s always a place for news reports to be published a week after the incident occurred. At least you got around to it, right?

    But, hey, you’re getting older and this isn’t about me or blogs or anything other than the great job you’ve been doing all these years. It’s all about you. But it’s funny how age works, and how through compromise, stubbornness or worse, one eventually becomes that which you once decried.

    I mean, how else do you explain this?

    Amen, brother. It’s like we’re allies in a battle against those “more prominent news outlets.” At least that’s what I thought until I flipped to pages 30, 32 and 36 - where you reported on stories that first appeared on Sheepshead Bites (one of them months before). I’ll give you some credit, though: you published one of those stories twice under different headlines, so it really only counts as two stories, not three.

    Maybe it was just a little coincidence, Bay News. But the chatter among Brooklyn’s local bloggers is that Courier-Life is a poacher. Instead of sending out your paid reporters to dig up stories, you take leads – uncredited – from local bloggers and rewrite the story with a fresh quote. I’m not saying it, you know. It’s just the chatter I’m hearing.

    I guess what I’m trying to say, Bay News, is happy birthday. I know aging can be rough – especially as you move more slowly while the world moves more quickly. It takes a very special kind of publication to continue to grow old in this digital era, but you’ve got a very special breed of people getting you there.

    Really, if there’s anything that sums up what I’m trying to say to you, it’s best captured by this quote from novelist Jean Rhys: “Age seldom arrives smoothly or quickly. It’s more often a succession of jerks.”

    Here’s to many more jerks, Bay News. Happy Birthday.

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    • Pingback: Quicklink: Happy 65th Birthday Bay News! « newyorkshitty.com

    • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

      Oh, they don't even have a clue to as to their early history. Far as I remember, Charlie Peterson sold the paper after his heart attack. At that time he wasn't able to spend much time preaching. A little more than ten years later he finally took the pastorship of a storefront church.

    • Jim

      From time to time, I have found an interesting garage sale in the classifieds. Not often, though. Clue: no one east of Nostrand Avenue has probably ever owned anything worth having.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=839675042 Holly Renee Reinhardt

      This is the best passive-aggressive note I have ever seen in my life, and I'm the queen of writing 'em!

    • GregK718

      hey..i found a 32″ LCD TV on east 16th street in someones garbage…broken. Sold it on craigslist for $100.
      so, maybe not worth having, but worth selling :)

    • Jim

      That's the idea. If you can't sell it on craigslist, it can't be sold.

    • nolastname

      Bravo, well done Ned.
      Lis, do you have a great memory or do research?

    • http://www.newyorkshitty.com Miss Heather

      “We've always been the big cheese around here, well before blogs and their like were on the horizon.”

      I recently learned that the bacterium that causes Cholera predates homo sapiens. After we entered the picture Cholera as a disease came into existence. I guess what I'm saying is sometimes being the proverbial oldest tree in the forest isn't necessarily a good thing— and it's all too clear who is the parasite and who is the host in this situation. I write this as someone who has had material (be it written or otherwise) poached by “big cheese” media entities like the Bay News. Repeatedly.

      Miss Heather, Editrix of http://www.newyorkshitty.com

      P.S.: Who the hell uses the phrase “big cheese” anymore?

    • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

      I knew Charlie Petersen when I was young. He was a member of the UMC on Ocean and Voorhies and conducted services as a lay preacher until he was fully ordained. I was always interested both in newspapers and history and he was quite encouraging in both areas. At one time he told me the story as to why he sold the Bay News. He was a printer and the Bay News was supposed to be merely a temporary undertaking as a war service. Its success surprised him and he continued because people wanted him to. His heart attack was to him a sign that he needed to slow down a bit. That's the reason he was willing to sell the name so cheaply.

      He was one of my favorite people when I was a kid, though we fell out of touch in the early 70s.

      • Colangelo John

        I am Charlie Peterson’s Great Nephew. He was a great guy. He started the Bay News as a way to keep the guys from the neighborhood that were serving over seas, his Brothers included, informed of the news from the Bay. My Grandmother Irene wrote for the paper and my Mom delivered it on her bicycle. My Dad has some of the first editions of the paper.

        • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

          I remember your great uncle very well. He was a great influence on my thinking, he thought things out very carefully and when he said something it was truthful and always thought provoking. Definitely one of the wisest people I’ve ever met.

          • John Colangelo

            Yes, he was a very cool guy…later in life (early 1970′s) he moved up to Bloomingburg NY and he actually wrote a book on the history of that town. He was raising chickens and had a few pigs and had about 10 acres of wooded land with wild grapes that they made made jam from….very fun to visit when I was a kid. He was a true renaissance man…knew a lot about many things. He passed away some time around 1985 I believe. I

    • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

      Big rats?

    • http://www.njluxurymotors.com Arthur Borko

      That's west of Nostrand.

    • jo

      well said ned.

      So much disrespect from print media. they need to realize working together with bloggers will further their sustainability.

    • http://www.radiocrystalblue.com Dan

      My turn to take a swipe:
      Why must Bay News allow so many grammatical and punctuational errors? They run in the majority of columns.

    • elv

      Haha i loved this

    • GregK718

      doh!!! I guess thats why I failed Geography in HS :) LOL

    • GregK718

      doh!!! I guess thats why I failed Geography in HS :) LOL

    • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

      Tradition?

      I think it got that way back in the 80s, when they went through their anti-intellectual phase.

    • Ray Johnson

      Boy, would I like to see that map of Sheepshead Bay back on the site!

    • Ray Johnson

      I still read the Bay News whenever I can — to see how they appreciate the latest hyperlocal news from the locals — the writers and readers of blogs. That said, I think that hard copy newspapers are still very useful and would hate to see its demise.

    • zen3344

      “Hyperlocal”…I like that word.

    • http://www.nedberke.com Ned Berke

      It is a word invented by bloggers doing what we're doing. It does actually fit for Courier-Life, but it's an amusing word choice given its origins.

    • http://www.trustytimeshop.com rolex daytona

      I guess what I’m trying to say, Bay News, is happy birthday.