Patch Wins Two Press Club Awards

Patch.com took home two first-place plaques at the Press Club of Long Island’s 2013 Media Awards Wednesday night at the Woodbury Country Club.

Farmingdale Patch’s coverage of the PGA Tour’s Barclays Tournament at Bethpage State Park last August was honored. Regional Editor Jason Molinet and Editors Joe Dowd and Geoffrey Walter took home first place in the Narrative Sports News category for their week-long reporting at Barclays while Molinet and Walter earned first place in Sports Photograph for their golf coverage.

“Joe Dowd, Geoffrey Walter and Jason Molinet are great reporters and editors, and the Patch family is proud of them,” said David Reich-Hale, associate editorial director for Patch.com’s Connecticut and New York operations.

Sachem Patch and former Editor Chris Vaccaro earned second place in the Social Media category Best Use of Facebook.

Five Towns Patch Editor Stephen Bronner earned third place in the Narrative Neighborhood/Community category for post-Hurricane Sandy report: “Hard-Hit Meadowmere Feels Forgotten After Sandy.”

Dowd earned a PCLI first-place award for the second straight year while Walter is a three-time winner and Molinet is a four-time winner.

PCLI is a local chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Patch.com operates 43 sites on Long Island.

Read More: http://farmingdale.patch.com/groups/business-news/p/farmingdale-patch-wins-two-press-club-awards

Press Club of Long Island Sports Panel

Patch.com regional editor Jason Molinet took part in a panel on sports reporting in the Newsday auditorium. The event was sponsored by the Press Club of Long Island. Panelists included Mark Herrmann, Newsday sports writer; Amy McGorry; News 12 Westchester; and Jason Molinet, Patch.com / longtime sports writer. The moderator was Pat Calabria of Farmingdale State College and a former Newsday sports writer.

Future of LI Media: Uncertain Forecast

As I sat in on the Press Club of Long Island’s forum on the Future of Long Island Media at Newsday on Thursday night, it became obvious that the esteemed panel — and the companies they represent — were still grappling for answers on how to weather the current storm.

Newsday Publisher Tim Knight hinted the age of free Internet may be over. It’s a topic several newspaper publishers have openly discussed in recent months as papers continue to lose revenue to big search firms such as Google and niche products such as Career Builder.com and Cars.com. The struggling economy has only heightened the media industry’s troubles as fewer companies advertise.

“I have a family,” Knight said. “I have to find a way to make this work. This is hand-to-hand combat for every advertising dollar. It’s being really smart about what news you put out there. It is a much more challenging business.”

Ad dollars aside, several panelists concluded the current media model may well be broken, a sentiment echoed by Long Island Press publisher Jed Morey. “Our thing is broken and people don’t want to pay for it anymore and we have to figure that out.”

While Newsday isn’t going away any time soon, not every business will survive. The free weekly Long Island Press comes to mind. It’s a sobering thought for anyone in the media business. Check out the Press Club of Long Island for more on this topic.

Blog originally posted at LI Entrepreneurs.com