Brian McGrory at YourArlington gala. /Paulette Schwartz photo
UPDATED Nov. 22: On a chilly November evening, the standing-room-only crowd packed into the back room of Donut Villa generated plenty of heat. YourArlington’s second annual gala was a “Who’s who?” of Arlington town leadership with current and former members of the Select Board and Chamber of Commerce sharing charcuterie, satay and bacon-wrapped scallops with local journalists, business owners and other sponsors and supporters of YourArlington.
The stars of the evening were YourArlington’s new editor, Carol Beggy, and keynote speaker, award-winning journalist and former editor of The Boston Globe, Brian McGrory. James Milan, communications manager for ACMi, the Arlington cable-TV station, served as emcee.
Increase readership? McGrory shares secret to success
The highlight of the night was a lively Q&A with Brian McGrory, now chair of the journalism department at Boston University. Introduced by Jim Concannon, YourArlington board member and former Globe editor, McGrory recalled his tenure as editor of the Globe from 2012 to 2022, when he transformed the organization from a print-focused newspaper to a newsroom built for an online world with more than 250,000 digital-only subscribers.
The secret to McGrory and the Globe’s success? “We needed to be relentlessly interesting” and aim to be “not the newspaper of record, but the newspaper of interest.” McGrory acknowledged that implementing the strategy necessitated cutting coverage of hyperlocal news, including news in Arlington.
Now, as chair of the journalism department at Boston University, McGrory is newly committed to supporting hyperlocal news through the Newsroom Initiative, which aims to fill the gap in quality local news coverage by pairing top, budding journalism students with local news organizations, including YourArlington. In a 2025 pilot program funded by BU’s Newsroom Initiative, student journalists will serve as reporters for local news organizations, gaining invaluable experience and filling the gap in coverage of local news.
Building the YourArlington brand
McGrory went on to discuss the importance of audience engagement in building a loyal readership base, especially in the light of the recent shift away from mainstream media toward alternative news channels, such as podcasts and social media. He suggested a branding and visibility campaign as a means of creating a readership who “feels like they need to support you.”
Support for YourArlington’s brand of local, nonprofit news is growing. According to board member Larry Slotnick, more than 100 people attended the gala, netting the organization $27,000, which is an increase from last year’s gala.
The funds will be put to immediate use, as YourArlington launches its redesigned user- and mobile-friendly website later this month, and aims to expand its readership and its coverage of local news with adds to staff over the next two years. The gala is just the first step in YourArlington’s long-term fund-raising strategy, with a goal to raise $1.2 million over the next three years.
This news announcement published Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024 was updated to a news summary by YourArlington freelancer Maura Shea Crowley on Nov. 17. It was updated Nov. 22, to add link to Facebook photo series.
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