I recently spent a day with Julie Bolcer of The Advocate, the former print magazine behemoth of LGBT journalism. The day of "job shadowing" Bolcer to get a glimpse into the life of an Advocate reporter gave me some insight into the merits of keeping it local with your news coverage.
The Advocate, while based in Los Angeles, staffs Bolcer as their sole New York City correspondent; she contributes 5-6 pieces per day to the online edition, advocate.com. Her contributions play like a beat report, with Gay New York City as her beat. She writes about LGBT events in the city and keeps close tabs on political races.
Bolcer's got the city pretty much covered in terms of LGBT news. She's constantly in touch with the NYC leaders of the movement, she's always meeting new people and giving out her card and collecting information, and she's always in-the-know about the important stuff going.
And while that's admirable of The Advocate and Bolcer, it also raises an important question: If it takes the entire workweek of a one reporter to cover one city, what's happening in the rest of the country, aside from the correspondent-assigned LA and DC, in terms of news coverage? Is their gay news going undiscussed? Bolcer told me that The Advocate has a wealth of sources and freelancers who could contribute stories out of their respective corners of the States, but it's undeniable that the stories coming out of these areas, by virtue of not having an officially-assigned "beat reporter," will often go unwritten.
The Advocate, while based in Los Angeles, staffs Bolcer as their sole New York City correspondent; she contributes 5-6 pieces per day to the online edition, advocate.com. Her contributions play like a beat report, with Gay New York City as her beat. She writes about LGBT events in the city and keeps close tabs on political races.
Bolcer's got the city pretty much covered in terms of LGBT news. She's constantly in touch with the NYC leaders of the movement, she's always meeting new people and giving out her card and collecting information, and she's always in-the-know about the important stuff going.
And while that's admirable of The Advocate and Bolcer, it also raises an important question: If it takes the entire workweek of a one reporter to cover one city, what's happening in the rest of the country, aside from the correspondent-assigned LA and DC, in terms of news coverage? Is their gay news going undiscussed? Bolcer told me that The Advocate has a wealth of sources and freelancers who could contribute stories out of their respective corners of the States, but it's undeniable that the stories coming out of these areas, by virtue of not having an officially-assigned "beat reporter," will often go unwritten.
