WGXC-90.7 FM

Watershed Post gets an international leg-up

Feb 15, 2011 6:02 am
In the same week that one of its principals literally broke a leg, the Watershed Post received news yesterday that it will be receiving a $20,000 grant from the International Women's Media Foundation that the Watershed Post, one of three new-media entrepreneurship projects to do so, that they are planning to use to jumpstart a NewsShed project, a network of town news sites that -- like their main site -- will feature original news and arts content, curated links to news stories and blogs, events, and targeted local advertising. "The town sites will function symbiotically with the Watershed Post's regional Catskills news portal, and we're working on a few new features for them as well -- forums, classifieds, and a section for things like wedding and funeral announcements, to name a few," said Lissa Harris and Julia Reischel of the Post. "The first towns we'll launch sites in will be Shandaken and Olive, because the demise of their terrific local newspapers (hat tip to WGXC's Paul Smart, those publications editor, here) is still very fresh, and folks are really feeling the need for a truly local news outlet." The goal for each town page: fiscal self-sufficiency, a budget for paying a stringer or two to cover meetings and other 'hard' news, a part-time ad salesperson, and a few trusted volunteers who can contribute more community-oriented content. If they succeed in Shandaken and Olive, they're planning to bring the model to other Catskills towns, starting with those that don't already have their own newspaper. Hats off for another new media project in line with the community enhancement WGXC is working on in the Hudson Valley!