BY PAUL SCHINDLER | All politics is local, the old adage goes.
In fact, most of the really important things in life are local. Family. Friends. Neighborhood. Schools. Parks. Favorite restaurants. The conveniences of everyday life.
In a city as big and densely populated as New York, however, it’s often hard to get the latest and best information about our local community — even though we live in the media capital of the world. Most media aim for the mass market, a bias that works against careful focus and scrutiny on the way in which our local communities function, thrive, handle challenges, resolves disagreements, and bear ongoing burdens.
That’s the beauty of community journalism. We engage our audience not by going as broadly as possible — casting a wide net, even if shallowly — but by digging deep and getting to the heart of what concerns the community we serve. Decisions made about our lives and our community at the local level have some of the most profound impacts on our well-being, and if it’s true that we get the government we deserve, as citizens we have a responsibility to do everything we can to deserve better. The first and most important thing we can do in getting there is to be better informed.
Our mission at Manhattan Express is to contribute everything we can to our readers and our community having the information they need to make the best choices about their future.
The team we bring to this challenge has deep experience, not only in community journalism but also in the issues facing Manhattan. Community News Group, owned by Les and Jennifer Goodstein, publishes 19 newspapers across New York City, as well as numerous specialty magazines focused on the same communities the papers serve.
In Manhattan alone, we publish five other community newspapers — The Villager, which several years ago celebrated its 80th anniversary, The East Villager, Downtown Express, Chelsea Now, and Gay City News. In my 13 years at the helm of Gay City News, where I was one of three co-founders in 2002, I have reported and overseen stories across the length of Manhattan on topics ranging from politics, crime, health, and education to the arts.
In taking on responsibility for Manhattan Express, as well, I welcome the opportunity to leverage my knowledge of the issues and players in Manhattan in exploring a broader range of stories.
And for our company, we are eager to draw on the know-how we’ve gained in our other Manhattan newspapers to bring the same top-flight coverage to Midtown and the Upper East and Upper West Sides. New York City is blessed these days by an expanding map of vibrant neighborhoods in all five boroughs, but mid-Manhattan remains the nation’s single most influential and exciting commercial and cultural center. We want to be here, and are excited that with this issue, we’ve now made our start. We hope this first issue encourages you to keep picking us up in print, and that you’ll check in for daily online updates at ManhattanExpressNews.nyc
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