This is why I say you - local professor - should write for your local papers. Many cases they are doing great work. In other cases not, but they’re small ponds in which you, big fish that you are, can really have influence. And the right has long known this. - ThreadSky

lollardfish.bsky.social • 1 day ago

This is why I say you - local professor - should write for your local papers. Many cases they are doing great work. In other cases not, but they’re small ponds in which you, big fish that you are, can really have influence. And the right has long known this.

Reposted from Janet Johnson

My hometown paper, The Stamford Advocate, isn’t afraid to report the truth.

Why is WaPo?

Comments

catebridget.bsky.social•1 day ago

i just submitted something to my local paper about vaccines. it’s 9am… need a distraction…

lollardfish.bsky.social•1 day ago

GOOD!!!

notyourcomrade.bsky.social•22 hours ago

Virginia Beach/Norfolk paper. Virginian Pilot is doing some great investigative reporting on the cuts and how they will affect veterans in our military area.

november-papa.bsky.social•20 hours ago

One of my former German professors, Dr. Classen, consistently writes into the Arizona Daily Star to be a pro-democracy voice. I’ve always appreciated that about him.

lizgloyn.bsky.social•21 hours ago

I really need to sit down and do a proper list of places I could pitch to when I get an idea for something so it's there...

lollardfish.bsky.social•21 hours ago

Happy to help. I tend not to know where other people should pitch because the question is where do you read. But I’m happy to help with a pitch or a draft or both.

lizgloyn.bsky.social•21 hours ago

Bless you. One problem right at the moment is that I've got plenty of other things to be doing so need to remind myself that I've got plenty on my plate as it is!

lollardfish.bsky.social•21 hours ago

yep. The public writing spaces will be there when you're ready, or when you're so mad you sit down and dash off 1000 word essay and then don't know what to do with it. My email is lollardfish at gmail and I'm happy to help.

lollardfish.bsky.social•21 hours ago

(like really. an academic I don't know has been trading emails with me on her excellent piece off and on all day. I'm delighted. I hope it finds a home)

nywonk.bsky.social•1 day ago

The death of local press is another nail in the coffin of democracy. People like @maddow.msnbc.com have been hammering that message for more than a decade.

Your suggestion may actually help reviving small local papers all over the place.

joodykeem.bsky.social•3 hours ago

There's a new initiative for helping academics do this!
https://sciencehomecoming.com

organized by @spiantado.bsky.social and @cantlonlab.bsky.social, I'm sure they can say more

cantlonlab.bsky.social•3 hours ago

and follow along with all the published stories here: https://bsky.app/profile/sciencehomecoming.bsky.social

cantlonlab.bsky.social•3 hours ago

Yes and we will post all science opinion articles on a map (coming very soon), so scientists can see which towns have been covered for which issues, and collaborate with scientists from the same hometown to communicate science news. So yes please write home.

bcd1024.bsky.social•1 day ago

😳😖😢

bachynski.bsky.social•1 day ago

Agreed! I was so glad that a couple weeks ago I was able to write a perspective for my local paper, the Morning Call in the Lehigh Valley. It’s really meaningful to be able to share your expertise with your local community, and especially important for those of us living in swing districts & states.

caitlinlovesdina.bsky.social•14 hours ago

Republicans only care about kids as a source of keeping the cost of labor down, and so there are people to take money from. Oh, and because some of those kids grow into children that they can someday rape.

lollardfish.bsky.social•1 day ago

Local Professor is a far more powerful title when it comes to pitching local media than you likely realize.

vonneudeck.com•1 day ago

It’s “the stupid elite we hate because it’s far away and is out of touch (which always also meant *we* can’t touch them) except this one is ours and we can see them every Saturday in the grocery store doing the weekly.

mcmahoney99.bsky.social•1 day ago

As Opinion editor of a local daily newspaper, I select the reader commentary that gets published, and I always give extra weight to local college professors. Having them comment in their area of expertise is invaluable to our readership and adds to our credibility. I wish more would write in.

asfried.bsky.social•1 day ago

You might want to consider recruiting one or more local professors. From 2011-2024 I wrote a biweekly column for my local paper, the Bangor Daily News. The opinion page editor recruited me after she published college some letters to the editor and columns of mine. Also set up rotation of professors.

mcmahoney99.bsky.social•1 day ago

Great advice. Thanks.

asfried.bsky.social•1 day ago

You're very welcome!

lollardfish.bsky.social•1 day ago

Mark, genuinely thanks for adding your voice here. Much more powerful than mine on this. :)

lollardfish.bsky.social•1 day ago

Obligatory freelancer hustle: Hey, I teach people how to do this in workshops you can hire me for. Or sign up for patreon and do it 1:1. Or just ask and if you can't afford it I'll help anyway. But if you're faculty, get your school to bring me. lollardfish at gmail.

https://bsky.app/profile/lollardfish.bsky.social/post/3ljzlh7xacc2t

lollardfish.bsky.social•1 day ago

(People who aren’t Local Professor should also write locally. Just trying to activate a specific set of Folks who Know Things)

planecrazy.bsky.social•1 day ago

we're getting the reportage locally here in NC as well. https://indyweek.com/news/durham/amid-mass-layoffs-triangle-foreign-aid-workers-call-on-triangle-officials-to-condemn-usaid-funding-freeze/

jeninmotion.bsky.social•1 day ago

Does "local author" still have cache? I can work that due to my old BSG and Nip/Tuck books lol

lollardfish.bsky.social•1 day ago

It does! The easiest way is to make the piece somehow relevant to your work. But you can also use it as a credential to shorthand in a pitch email "hey, I can write!" and then make sure the pitch is tightly written (and the draft too).

lollardfish.bsky.social•1 day ago

Also since I got my obligatory "what about" from a former editor from there (who got paid), no, don't write for The Conversation. Don't be a scab.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/better-90000969

lollardfish.bsky.social•1 day ago

It would be smarter for me to never speak ill of the big non-profit fish in the pool, but they all rely on unpaid labor. I don't think we can have an ethical public humanities that way.

ansleyerickson.bsky.social•1 day ago

Seriously, how would you approach writing locally for a place that is not yours. Thinking about pitching a story about the place that was local for my dad but not for me.

lollardfish.bsky.social•1 day ago

the same way! /1

lollardfish.bsky.social•1 day ago

"I am a professor of TOPIC [whatever is relevant] at Columbia [is that right?]. My dad grew up in [place], and I spent the last four years [whatever] visiting every month. In my piece, I argue ..."

lollardfish.bsky.social•1 day ago

If you want to do it, feel free to send me a draft of the piece and, importantly, the pitch email. lollardfish at gmail. Happy to help.

ansleyerickson.bsky.social•1 day ago

Thank you! Helpful template/kick in the pants.

flightofgriffin.bsky.social•1 day ago

Great - this is what I'm always saying; that local papers are still around in spite of cuts and other bullshit. Useful stuff.

darlenem.bsky.social•1 day ago

📌

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