Peter Schorsch has launched a new political viewpoint website, Context Florida, which pulls together some on the brightest minds and writers from across the state…and me. The site replaces Florida Voices that ended last May.
Here is Peter’s first column on Context Florida:
As more than one friend has counseled, it’s crazy to be launching any sort of journalism endeavor in today’s marketplace.
Aren’t newspapers laying off editors and reporters? Aren’t media companies being bought up like Boardwalk and Park Place in a game of Monopoly?
Unfortunately, the answer to those two questions is “yes.” But that doesn’t mean entrepreneurs will stop attempting to build a better mousetrap. In fact, it’s in chaotic periods like this when “the next great thing” is often created.
As far as Florida’s political journalism arena is concerned, the next great thing will be Context Florida – a non-profit, online, statewide opinion network.
So what exactly is ContextFlorida? That’s a good question, especially if you were not familiar with Florida Voices. Is it a blog? Is it a news site? Is it a soap box? Well, yes to all three of those questions. That and more.
First of all, Context Florida is about what its title suggests: Florida. For a state as large and populous and as politically important as Florida, there are very few outlets for considered opinion about it. There are the newspapers, with their dwindling editorial pages. And there are some blogs and social networks and even a couple of think tanks. But, for the most part, there are very few places for the issues of the day to be debated.
My vision is to make Context Florida one of the arenas for these debates.
These debates will rage via a stable of regular columnists – many of them veteran journalists, such as Doug Clifton and Martin Dyckman and Florence Snyder, but also new media voices such as Steve Schale and Ben Kirby and Julie Delegal – who will offer at least four new op-eds per day on the site. In turn, these op-eds will be made available – at no cost – to the newspapers that have been forced to pare down their editorial staffs.
Context Florida also will welcome the contributions of outside interest groups and writers whose viewpoints are worth amplifying.
What you will read and see on Context Florida is what I describe as a bustling cacophony of smart ideas written by smart people for a smart audience.
I hope you will be part of it.
Visti the site here. Follow Context Florida on Twitter @ContextFL. Like Context Florida on Facebook.