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From the editor: We need to talk

April 4, 2019 Brooklyn Eagle Staff
Ned Berke headshot.
Ned Berke
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From: The editor
To: Brooklyn
Subject: We need to talk

I have some urgent questions for you.

You can reach me at [email protected] or at (718) 422-7400. Or by Twitter DM and the Brooklyn Eagle’s Facebook Messenger. I’m eager to hear from you.

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I recently started as the editorial director of the Brooklyn Eagle, which means I direct the journalism you find on our website, our newsletter and our podcast.

Our mission at the Eagle is to cover — and question — the people, power and ideas shaping Brooklyn.

Brooklyn is a big place, and we need your help to do this right. Local journalism only works well when we’re taking our directions from you — our readers, our neighbors, our community.

So here are the things I need to know:

  • Why and when do you turn to a local news source?
  • How do you find it? What brought you to this article?
  • Does local news represent you or your community? Do you feel left out?
  • What problems can journalism help you or your community solve?
  • What questions do you have about your neighborhood, your borough, your city for which you struggle to find answers?
  • Have you ever interacted with a reporter? How’d that go?
  • What are we missing, and who should we speak to about it?
  • Is there a time Brooklyn’s local news sources really nailed it? Tell me about it.
  • Is there a time we failed it? Tell me all about that, too.

Your answers to these questions will shape our coverage, inform how we interact with you and evolve how we approach news in our borough.

The Eagle began publishing in 1841. Five years later, in his first column as editor, Walt Whitman wrote, “We really feel a desire to talk on many subjects, to all the people of Brooklyn” — emphasis his.

That remains true today. The Eagle, our readers, our colleagues across the borough, and many of those we write about are a part of the community driving to make a better, more equitable and more just Brooklyn — for all Brooklynites.

That’s why these questions are so urgent. Let me know how we can work together.

Let’s talk.

Ned Berke is the editorial director of the Brooklyn Eagle. He can be reached at [email protected] or at (718) 422-7400.


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