Misty Eyed

I can believe that Sunday, March 4th, 2012, was a slow news day in Middletown....but not quite that slow.

As far as I know, that's the first time we've gone a day without a single post on the Eye since our beginnings in June 2008. I'm feeling particularly rotten about that, since one of the reasons we were dark on Sunday was because I didn't get to posting the notice about the AAUW's annual International Women's Day, and it would have been nice to give them some publicity.

Back in June 2008, Ed McKeon put out a call for volunteers to help create a hyperlocal news blog just about Middletown, written by volunteers. Seems like it's time to repeat that call. And if you'd like to help the Eye, but don't care for writing, we've got some non-writing tasks that need some love (like getting community notices up in a timely fashion.)

I remember reading this for the first time and thinking, "That Ed has no idea what he's getting himself into." Ha!

From the June 16, 2008 post:

Welcome to the Middletown Eye.

Increasingly local media is failing the municipalities and communities they cover. Corporate ownership has drained valuable dollars from the local papers, leaving them to scramble for coverage. It's not through any fault of reporters, it's through lack of reporters because the corporate parent believes more in advertising than editorial content. No single reporter can be at any one meeting.

Think of Middletown. Forty-two square miles. An active Police Department. Municipal meetings nearly every night. Cultural performances galore. Sports at many amateur levels. There's no way that even a handful of reporters can do the town justice.

But what if we become the reporters - those of us who go to the meetings, and concerts, ballgames and social events. With a digital camera, an audio recorder and a laptop, we might be able to do a far better job than the newspapers ever could.

So that's the idea. A blog devoted to our town, and written by its residents. Imagine what might happen if there were a set of Middletown eyes at every significant (and maybe insignificant) event.

Of course, we need volunteer correspondents. More on that in a later post. For now, think about what you would have liked the newspaper to report at the PTA meeting, and then consider how you could write it to get the most important points made.

Consider it your Eye, and your point of view.