Number 9: The Media

If a tree falls in the woods and nobody hears it, does it make a sound? No matter, with hundreds of reporters and bloggers in Brooklyn even the mere crack of a twig can turn into a fever pitch, and as a blog, we see media as a collective force since its work product is consolidated on our pages (yes, we know this is shameless cheating). Battles over projects like the Downtown Brooklyn redevelopment, Atlantic Yards and Coney Island are played out in the media daily, swaying public opinion, galvanizing activists, and selling the borough to buyers and investors. Speaking of buyers, a National Association of Home Builders study found during the boom years, over half said media reports had an impact on their decision — where to buy, when, and at what price. An updated study was done during these bust years, and a spokeswoman told us the number was much higher but declined to release the figure. In Brownstone Brooklyn, with three of the nation’s bloggiest communities, buyers especially have the edge, and may even discover a neighborhood they wouldn’t have previously considered. A few of the many local notables: New York Post reporter Rich Calder and Daily News reporter Jotham Sederstrom break Brooklyn stories in the tabloid wars, and Brooklyn Daily Eagle columnist Dennis Holt and Brooklyn Paper editor Gersh Kuntzman disagree about almost everything in the local rags. Our publisher Jonathan Butler started Brooklyn’s most-read blog (our commenters, the New York magazine noted, encapsulate the Brooklyn Wars), and a city-wide hit with the Brooklyn Flea, bringing an average of 5,000 people into Clinton Hill every weekend. Other notable bloggers include Robert Guskind, founder of Gowanus Lounge and Brooklyn editor of city-wide Curbed, and Norman Oder, who has broken multiple stories on his Atlantic Yards Report. And speaking of Atlantic Yards, No Land Grab is the site that has tirelessly compiled every iota of media since the fight began.
Brooklyn’s Top 50 Most Influential No. 11-20 [Brownstoner]
Brooklyn’s Top 50 Most Influential No. 21-30 [Brownstoner]
Brooklyn’s Top 50 Most Influential No. 31 – 40 [Brownstoner]
Brooklyn’s Top 50 Most Influential No. 41 – 50 [Brownstoner]
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