The digital-only community news resource GreaterPatchogue is now a member of the esteemed New York Press Association.
NYPA’s Board of Directors voted unanimously to approve the application of GreaterPatchogue, which also operates sister website GreaterBayShore, earlier this month. The vote came during NYPA’s annual spring conference and trade show at the Gideon Putnam resort in Saratoga Springs.
The New York Press Association was founded on September 8, 1853, and today its members represent hundreds of weekly and daily newspapers, as well as digital-only news sites across the state.
“For more than 160 years, NYPA has continued to build not only its own strength, but also that of the community news companies it serves,” reads the association’s website. “NYPA is committed to ensuring that the future of New York’s community news industry is as vital and vibrant as its past.”
Publisher Michael White unveiled greaterpatchogue.com on July 1, 2015, and greaterbayshore.com launched a year later. Combined the sites have been viewed over 2 million times. They recently underwent a redesign and can now be reached through greaterlongisland.com.
White has been writing and editing news content for daily and weekly newspapers since 2001, and has journalism degrees from the University of Delaware and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.
“Mike White has innovated in both Patchogue and Bay Shore with his local websites,” said Andrew Olsen, a NYPA board member, past president and publisher of The Suffolk Times and Riverhead-News Review, where White last served as editor.
“He is an award-winning journalist who is tremendous asset, not only to the communities he serves, but also to the New York Press Association,” Olsen added.
Joe Shaw, the executive editor of The Press News Group, which operates The Southampton Press and other publications on the South Fork, recalled how he had once opposed letting publishers of digital-only news sites join NYPA.
“I’m happy to acknowledge how ridiculous that position seems a couple of years later,” Shaw said. “Some of the best community journalism is coming from web publications — GreaterPatchogue being a perfect example. It serves the need in exactly the way community newspapers do, and have.
“It’s the future of journalism, and we are lucky to have Mike as a colleague, and a member.”
For his part, White said he is looking forward to tapping into the wealth of knowledge and resources that will be available to him through the organization and its members, and appreciates everything NYPA does for reporters in the state.
“At first, I was somewhat self-conscious about what other journalists might think of my lighter approach to community news, but over these past two years I’ve heard nothing but positive feedback from all walks of life in the journalism world,” he said.
“This admission to NYPA is the icing on the cake for me and a huge confidence boost,” he added. “I’m proud. And I’m looking forward to contributing in whatever way I can to help advance NYPA’s goals of ensuring a bright future for community news companies.”
