
Alternative Online Paper Shares Its “Top 10” Stories Of The Year
In 2022 media coverage of government and politics in and around New Britain continued a decline in the pages and posts of the corporate-owned newspapers and on their online sites.
The Hartford Courant, owned by Alden Global Capital, and The New Britain Herald, purchased by Suburban Newspapers of Rhode Island last spring, showed less capacity to inform residents about what is going on at City Hall or what our elected officials at the State Capitol are up to.
This is no reflection on the good efforts of the folks who make up the skeleton crews at our dailies. In some respects, Greater New Britain is better off than other places in that we don’t live in a “news desert” entirely. You can still get the spot news, obits, announcements of good works, the high school sports scores and so forth that helps you stay connected. The online and nonprofit Connecticut Mirror is an accessible, statewide source for public affairs, opinion and investigative journalism. For the most part, however, The Herald and The Courant, those legacy sources for all things local, are now “ghost newspapers” with absentee ownerships and diminishing readerships. Gone are the reporters with experience, steady beats and management support for journalists to do their jobs. Gone is the daily dose of information that keeps our town government, businesses and institutions knowable, accountable and transparent.
As an alternative to the fading coverage of the dailies in 2022 The New Britain Progressive, a publication of the New Britain Independent, continued into a sixth year with reporting, opinions and stories of notable individuals and events in the community that otherwise would have been missed. Over the last 12 months more than 190 stories were produced locally from volunteer writers, photographers and contributors. That’s no substitute for what full-time news staffs used to provide but it’s a start at creating a reliable, citizen-run publication for anyone who hasn’t checked out on local affairs and wants to know more about where they live.
The Progressive is just one of many grassroots and upstart projects around the country that are responding to the demise of commercial weeklies and dailies. They will continue to emerge in 2023 to be a source of local news and information. If the New Britain Progressive has its way that will happen in New Britain.
Top New Britain Stories According To The New Britain Progressive
- Federal COVID Aid To City Boosts High Profile Projects
- Attorney Bill Rivera Is First Hispanic Elected To Probate Court
- Property Revaluation
- CCSU Honors DeFronzo’s Service To City And State
- Hayes, Other Democrats Win Big In New Britain
- More City Debt To Pay For Stewart Annual Budgets
For the rest of the Top 10 visit http://newbritainprogressive.com
Posts from NB Politicus appear regularly in the New Britain Progressive
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