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The Batavian is 15: we have a new logo, and a new way for you to support local journalism

By Howard B. Owens
The Batavian Eagle

Today marks two important events for The Batavian.

It is our 15th Anniversary.  The Batavian’s official first day of publication was May 1, 2008.

We’ve come a long way from those early days when we were thrilled the first time 1,000 people checked out the site in a day to now reaching 10,000 to 14,000 people per day.

We’re also launching a new website.  The look isn’t changing as much as the important steps we're taking to improve our community coverage and the overall efficiency of the site.

We’re also asking readers to take a more direct role in helping to fund local journalism by becoming supporters through our new Early Access Pass. Those who do sign up for Early Access will be able to read selected bylined stories as soon as they are published. Those who don’t will need to wait four hours before getting access to the full story.

New Logo
As part of our forward-looking effort, we’re introducing a new logo.

The Upton Monument is Genesee County’s most distinctive landmark, and the Eagle at its pinnacle is a symbol of ambition and freedom, so I’ve long wanted to incorporate the Eagle into our masthead.  We also decided to go after a more modern, forward-looking design.  The Batavian remains locally owned, and we steadfastly maintain our independence.  We also are deeply rooted in our community.

The new logo (designed by Lisa Ace, our creative manager), we think, symbolizes our community and our independence, and with a clean, modern design and an eagle eye -- we can look forward and outward in an effort to be up on the latest in current and breaking news right here in Genesee County.  

Site Design
The software The Batavian runs on was getting dated, so it was time for a significant upgrade.  We saw that as a time to slightly tweak our design.

We know some people think our site design isn’t very sophisticated with full stories and all the ads on the home page.  But here’s the thing: what we do works. We often hear from readers how easy our site is to use. Readers tell us they like all the ads of local businesses on the home page.  It acts like a local business directory.  Local business owners love it because they know their ad is being displayed to thousands of local residents every day.

Early Access Pass
I’ve been publishing The Batavian for 15 years.  It’s been hard, grueling, and stressful work at times. I can’t charge forward with the same energy I once had.  I rely more on people helping me, especially with recent changes in my life circumstances. 

We now have three hard-working and talented full-time employees and some wonderful freelancers, and we need to be able to hire more help.  We simply can’t cover all the news in Genesee County without your help.

Covering local news is time-consuming and that makes it expensive and difficult to get to everything of interest or importance.  There is no cheap way to do it.  News can’t remain free forever.

So, we’re going to ask our most loyal supporters to take a more direct role in funding local journalism.  

We’ve come up with a unique, perhaps first-of-its-kind program in the news industry: The Early Access Pass. It’s unique in that it won’t force you to pay to read the news.  It’s simply a reminder on freshly published stories that we need your help to continue to bring to you the news of your community. When you click a link for a story published within the previous four hours, you will be provided an option to sign up for Early Access, or you can come back four hours later to read it. The choice is yours.

The Batavian has long dominated Genesee County news by publishing most of the news of Genesee County first.  That’s still our mission.  With Early Access, you can become among the first to know about important news while everybody else waits.  Early Access will apply only to original reporting, stories with a byline, and not to press releases, posts primarily of photos, or scanner reports. 

We’ve kept the cost of Early Access extremely low, so all of our loyal supporters can afford to sign up -- $8 per month or $80 per year. If you're interested in a group rate, email me: howard@thebatavian.com.

Local news is essential to the health of a community, and we hope you value what we do enough to support us as we endeavor to do more of it.  We work hard to cover our community, and we appreciate our readers.  Please support our efforts by signing up for Early Access today.

The Batavian hires Kara Richenberg as publication assistant

By Howard B. Owens

For the first time in its nearly 15-year history, The Batavian has three full-time employees.

Kara Richenberg, a lifelong resident of Genesee County, is joining the staff today as a publication assistant.

Richenberg's duties will include posting press releases, managing our community calendar, and administering Deal of the Day, as well as other customer support.

"We're excited to add Kara to our team," said Publisher Howard Owens. "She has been an active part of our community throughout her life, knows the community well, and will fit well with the team we already have in place."

Already on that team are Lisa Ace, creative manager, who joined The Batavian nearly 12 years ago, and News Editor Joanne Beck, who has been in that role for about a year.

In her previous jobs, Richenberg has worked for Tops Markets, the Tonawanda Valley Federal Credit Union, and Toyota of Batavia.  She is a graduate of Pembroke High School and earned an associate's degree from Genesee Community College.

Mike and Kara Richenberg married in 2016 and welcomed their first child, a daughter, in 2020.  Her new job will allow her to work from home and care for her daughter.  The couple is currently working with the building trades team at BOCES to build a home for themselves in Corfu.

Both Mike and Kara are avid runners (Mike won the first six consecutive Arc Friends and Family 5Ks), and Kara is currently the coach of the modified tennis team at Pembroke HS.

The Batavian will market its 15th Anniversary on May 1 with the launch of an upgraded website as well as a new program that will enable readers to help us produce more community news.

The Batavian honored by NYPA for Winter Storm Elliott coverage

By Howard B. Owens

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The Batavian was awarded first place for Best Online Breaking News coverage on Saturday by the New York Press Association for its coverage of Winter Storm Elliott.

The stories of the storm that led to the award were written by Howard Owens and Joanne Beck.

The primary stories considered for the award were: 

Second place in the Online Breaking News category went to the Albany Times Union for a deputy-involved shootout, and third place went to the Queens Chronicle for Winter Storm Elliott coverage.

To see all of The Batavian's coverage of Winter Storm Elliott and its aftermath, click here.

The Batavian's 10 most viewed stories in 2022

By Howard B. Owens

I forgot to post this on Jan. 1, but here are the ten most viewed stories on The Batavian in 2022.

The Batavian was visited by users more than 5.7 million times in 2022, and the site received 9,639,357 page views.  

Thank you for your continued support of The Batavian.

Support the local businesses that help make Genesee County a great place to live

By Howard B. Owens

With the holidays upon us it is a good time to remind Genesee County residents that we're fortunate to live in a community with a strong base of locally owned businesses.

Locally owned businesses are the backbone of any local community.  Local owners give back to the community in ways that chains do not, through their donations, their sponsorships, and their service on civic organizations and charities.

Communities with a vibrant local business community thrive, so we encourage you to do what you can this holiday season and throughout the year to support locally owned businesses.

These businesses support the community by supporting local news coverage.  Local news coverage is also critical to a community's health.  Facebook, Tik Tok or Instagram are never going to send a reporter to a City Council meeting or a school board meeting or cover a budget hearing or hold elected officials accountable for how they spend your tax money.  It takes local news businesses such as The Batavian that rely on your support and the support of local businesses to help keep you informed.

We're all here to make Genesee County a great place to live, work, be active, and to be entertained.

Notice to Readers: The Batavian newsroom on the road

By Howard B. Owens

The Batavian newsroom will be out of town today through Wednesday for personal time.

We will travel with laptops, of course, and post the news we can remotely.  There will naturally be things we can't cover in person during that time but will strive to get assistance on those stories where we can.

The Batavian's page on Facebook hijacked

By Howard B. Owens

UPDATE 1:11 p.m.: Our control of the page appears to be restored.  The feed of news headlines to the page should resume soon.

The Batavian's page on Facebook is not currently controlled by any person associated with The Batavian.  It was hijacked.

We have notified Facebook and are working with a local news association to try and regain control of the page.

We initially lost control of the page on Monday morning and regained control by the afternoon.  We lost control again on Tuesday morning and have been unable to regain control.

It's my fault, in a way.  I downloaded an app from the Apple Store called Pages Manager Suite from a developer called Meta Sun Company Limited. That app appears to be the most likely culprit in the hijack.  The hijackers appear to have used Facebook's programming interface to take over my business manager account, demoting me to "employee," removing all business information and access to my business pages, and installing themselves as "business admin(s)."  

The Apple Store is supposed to be a "walled garden" with security features to prevent malicious apps from appearing in the store.  This same app is in the store, I now see, multiple times from multiple "developers."  So beware if you have a Facebook business account and come across an app you think might help you manage your Facebook business pages.  Facebook (Meta, now, really, at a corporate level) does offer an app called Business Suite. Stick to that app no matter how much you may find it annoying.

A security advisor's biggest concern is that the hijackers wanted to use the page to buy Facebook ads using my credit card.  Fortunately, they were unable to remove my access to my ad manager account, and I've deactivated the account.

So far, there is nothing amiss with our page.  There is no evidence of it being used to install malware or post false information or spam.  The hijackers could potentially use messenger to fool people into downloading something malicious but I've received no complaints of any such attempt.

For the time being, we are unable to post news links to the page.

I'm told it may take weeks for Facebook to resolve the issue but that Facebook will likely eventually resolve it satisfactorily.  

Introducing The Batavian's opinion section

By Howard B. Owens

The Batavian now has an opinion section.

This will become our central hub for community discussions about a variety of issues.  We welcome submissions of op-ed pieces and letters to the editor (we've never accepted letters before).  Submissions must be made either through the website (register for an account and login in the box on the left side of the page) or through email to howard@thebatavian.com.

All points of view are welcome.

We do have rules and guidelines.  You can read them here.

We will no longer have comments on stories but we do have comments on opinion pieces posted to the opinion section.  Posts to the opinion section will not be shared on The Batavian's Facebook page but will remain exclusive to the website.

The "recent comments" box remains on the left side of the home page and this will contain links to comments made on posts in the opinion section.

Joanne Beck named news editor of The Batavian

By Howard B. Owens
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Joanne Beck

Joanne Beck, a Batavia native and well-regarded journalist in the community, has been named news editor of The Batavian.

Beck became a freelance writer for The Batavian in August and began her new staff position last month.

In addition to her duties as editor, Beck will primarily cover the City of Batavia, county government, and Batavia City Schools.

She assumed the city and county beats in May from Mike Pettinella, a freelance writer, who has stepped back from regular beat coverage. 

Beck has been in the communications field for more than two decades, working as an award-winning newspaper journalist for 15 years.

In 2007, she received a Fabulous Female award from the YWCA of Genesee County.  Her journalism awards include writing and reporting honors from Associated Press. She was also honored by the NYS Mental Health Association for her reporting on mental health issues.

She has a bachelor's in communications/media and has special interests in animal welfare, adoption and rescue stories, health and nutrition, running, sharing one’s struggles and triumphs, giving the underdog a voice, and helping to promote local businesses and organizations by putting a spotlight on their special events and participation in the community.

Howard Owens, who has been the publisher and executive editor of The Batavian since its inception in May 2008, will cover spot news, criminal justice, Western Regional OTB, GCEDC, and Le Roy Central  Schools. He's also the staff photographer and videographer, assisted by several local freelancers.  Owens and Beck will share the other beats in the county, such as town and village governments, other school districts, and business.

Lisa Ace is the organization's creative manager and handles, as she has for the past 11 years, the business operations of The Batavian.

The Batavian began publishing on May 1, 2008 and has become a staple of Genesee County's news diet reaching more than 12,000 local news readers on a daily basis. In 2009, The Batavian was named Genesee County's Innovative Enterprise of the Year. It was named a 2013 BID "Spirit of Downtown" award winner, and in 2018 was the City of Batavia's Business of the Year.  It's also received awards from the Inland Press Association, the New York Press Association, and Local Independent Online News Publishers. 

Contact info:

  • Howard Owens, howard@thebatavian.com
  • Joanne Beck, joanne@thebatavian.com
  • Lisa Ace, lisa@thebatavian.com

Appellate Court rules in favor of The Batavian in dispute over court hearing access

By Joanne Beck

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Three years after taking a stand for First Amendment rights by requesting a transcript from Genesee County Family Court, The Batavian received vindication with a ruling that stated such information cannot be denied to the media company.

Stemming from a Family Court case in November 2019, the request was made after Howard Owens, publisher of The Batavian, was barred access to Genesee County Family Court. Attorney Thomas Burns, who represented a woman accused of hitting her child with an object, had filed a motion alleging that prosecuting attorney Durin Rogers had a conflict of interest because he was also a part-time City Court judge. Burns filed the motion claiming that as a City Court judge, Rogers would also be able to interact with other members of the county’s criminal justice system, and he should be disqualified from that particular case. 

Niagara County Family Court Judge Erin DeLabio barred Owens from access to the courtroom for the conflict of interest hearing, and also ruled against the request for a transcript of the hearing. She cited “confidentiality” concerns that outweighed The Batavian’s belief that the transcript was public information that should be accessible to the press. 

DeLabio’s decision was also partially due to her belief that Rogers had already been elected to the full-time City Court judge position and any potential conflict of interest would therefore have no bearing on the election. The election was not the basis for the initial motion filed by Burns, but, rather, the two roles served simultaneously by Rogers.

Owens and his legal team, led by Heather Murray, managing attorney for The Local Journalism Project at Cornell First Amendment Clinic, filed an appeal on that ruling in December 2020.

A final decision, issued by the Fourth Judicial Department of the Appellate Division on March 18, stated:

“To the extent that the court determined that the attorney disqualification hearing was no longer relevant because Rogers had already been elected to the full-time judgeship, we agree with appellant that the court improperly ignored both the continued importance of appellant’s role in reporting accusations of ethical violations or conflicts of interest on the part of a judge and the principle that, here, it was within the province of the appellant to determine whether the hearing on the disqualification motion remained newsworthy.”

“On the merits, appellant contends that the court violated its right to attend the disqualification hearing and that it is therefore entitled to a transcript of the hearing, the release of which, with appropriate redaction, would be consistent with Family Court Act § 166 … we agree.”

It was a determination expected by Owens based on his knowledge of the First Amendment and state law and assistance from Cornell University, he said. 

“When I was first excluded from the courtroom, I knew the law was on my side. This ruling affirms that all courts in New York are open to the public and can’t be closed to the public without a hearing and factual findings within the perimeters of the law. I knew from my initial research on our exclusion from the hearing that there isn’t much case law affirming this principle for Family Court, so this ruling is especially significant,” he said Saturday.

“The language of the law governing access to courts, including Family Court, is very clear and easy to understand.  It doesn’t surprise me that The Batavian prevailed with its appeal.

“It’s long been my belief that local journalists have an obligation to stand up for transparency in government and the right to public access to public business.  I’m grateful to the Cornell First Amendment Clinic for taking up this case. Mark Jackson and Heather Murray recognized the principles involved in this case and all of the students -- notably Ashley Stamegna -- who did the hard work of researching case law, writing briefs, and presenting arguments, were dedicated to the First Amendment issues at stake.

“One of the principles in this case that I’m glad the court recognized, is that journalists and not government officials, even judges, make editorial decisions and determine what is newsworthy.  When the presiding judge in this case ruled that the material we sought was no longer newsworthy as a reason for her denial of our request for a transcript, it was particularly galling.  It was important that such an egregiously reasoned ruling not be allowed to stand.

“The ruling is also significant because the justices were unequivocal in their reasoning.  There is no wiggle room in this ruling for judges in future courtrooms to close off access without ensuring they are properly following the law.

“It’s important to note, the law still gives Family Court judges great authority to protect the privacy of children in Family Court matters.  This ruling doesn't change that but it does emphasize that judges cannot arbitrarily exclude the public from proceedings.”  

The decision will remand the issue back to Genesee County Family Court to provide Owens with a copy of a redacted (blacking out items of confidentiality) transcript. That’s all he was asking for in the first place, Owens said.

“All we requested was a redacted transcript (to protect the privacy of the family involved in the case), so we were surprised and disappointed in DeLabio’s decision,” he had said at the time of appeal. “Most troubling in her ruling is her statement, ‘The motion was heard AFTER (her emphasis) the local elections. Reporting anything that the (sic) Batavian thinks is relevant to the election after the fact, would have no impact on the election …’”

“Judge DeLabio is not employed by The Batavian. She is not an editor. She is a judge. It is not her place to pass editorial judgments on what is newsworthy.”

We are thrilled by the complete victory for our client,” Cornell Law School First Amendment Clinic student Ashley Stamegna said. “Without judicial transparency, we cannot ensure that justice is being done in our courts of law. The Fourth Department’s opinion reaffirms the New York courts’ commitment to providing the transparency that both the law and the public requires. The opinion also clearly demonstrates that it is the province of local journalists—not the courts—to determine what content is newsworthy.” 

Stamegna argued on behalf of The Batavian at the Fourth Department. The Cornell First Amendment Clinic team at the appellate level included lead attorney Heather Murray, Mark Jackson, Jared Carter and students Timothy Birchfield and Christopher Johnson. Murray and Cortelyou Kenney argued at the lower court with summer fellow Samuel Aber assisting with the briefing.

File Photo: Taken of Niagara  County Judge Erin P. DeLabio in 2019 from outside Genesee County Family Court through the doorway window.

To read the full decision, click here (PDF)

Previously:

The 10 most read stories on The Batavian in 2021

By Howard B. Owens

Here are the most viewed stories of 2021:

In 2021, The Batavian was visited by readers 5.9 million times and we served 10 million page views.

Thank you to our readers and local business owners for your ongoing support of The Batavian.  In 2022, we will continue to work hard as a team to bring you the most comprehensive and widest variety of local news coverage available in the area.

Back to the future with comments on The Batavian

By Howard B. Owens

We tried the Facebook comment plug-in and while it achieved the goal of increasing the number of comments on the site, it was also riddled with spam.

So we tried Disqus and many people find it confusing and difficult to use. I had complaints about an inability to login and with my personal account (instead of the moderator's account), I couldn't log in.

So now we're going back to our old, content management system's built-in comment tool.

Doing so does bring back a feature that was popular with frequent commenters when we used it before -- the "latest comments" box on the left side of the page.  

As I said when we switched to Disqus a few weeks ago: 

The rules remain the same:

  • You must post using a real name (no business names, no alias).
  • No personal attacks.  No name-calling.
  • No profanity.
  • No comments ridiculing, mocking, or insulting other people because of who they are.
  • No misinformation/false information.

We expect community conversations to be productive and respectful.  If you want to spout invective and "alternate facts," that's why Facebook exists (though we also police comments on The Batavian's Facebook page).

Billie Owens, editor of The Batavian, passes away at age 63

By Howard B. Owens

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Billie Faye Owens, 63, editor of The Batavian from 2010 to 2021, died at Rochester General Hospital on Friday evening from complications from congestive heart failure.

She was taken to United Memorial Medical Center in Batavia with health issues on July 26 and remained hospitalized for 81 days. At no time did she test positive for COVID-19.

She was born in 1958 in Charlotte, N.C., to Barbara Jean Carter and Billie Eugene McSwain. Her mother moved her when she was 5 to San Diego where she would eventually attend San Diego State University, earning a B.A. in Journalism.

She went to work for the Daily Californian in El Cajon, Calif. in 1989, where she met her second husband, Howard Owens, then a wire and copy editor at the Daily Californian, and currently publisher of The Batavian. They were married on the campus of Point Loma Nazarene College in 1993.

Her journalism career began with an internship at the Los Angeles Times and included stints at the San Diego Business Journal, the Ventura County Star, and the Canandaigua Daily Messenger.

She won numerous regional and statewide journalism awards in San Diego for her writing and reporting.

She was passionate about her craft and one thing Howard and Billie bonded over quickly was the fact they both had substantial collections of books about journalism, which has grown to more than 400 titles over the years.  They also both enjoyed old movies with main characters who were reporters and editors.

She loved animals and was upset by anybody who abused animals.  She made it a mission to publish reports of people leaving dogs in hot cars and made local animal abuse cases her beat in Genesee County.  She was also well-known for her colorful reports of lost and missing pets and shelter animals in need of adoption.

In 2015, Howard and Billie adopted Rocky, a mix-breed pit bull who had been abused by a previous owner.  Rocky succumbed to cancer on July 31.

Billie is survived by her husband and three grandchildren, whom she loved.  Her mother, Barbara France, passed away in December in San Diego. 

In lieu of flowers or condolences, donations can be made to Volunteers for Animals in the name of Billie and Rocky.  There will be no local service. Her wishes were that her ashes be deposited in the Pacific Ocean off the Ventura County Pier, where the ashes of her son, Charles Raymond Sutherland, were deposited in 2018.

New comment system on The Batavian

By Howard B. Owens

We are now using a comment system from a company called Disqus for commenting on stories on The Batavian.

Disqus will allow you to use your favorite social media platform as a sign-in tool, or you can create an account with Disqus.  You will no longer need to have a Facebook account to comment.

Since we are no longer using the Facebook comment plug-in, comments will no longer appear on the home page.  On the bottom of stories is a comment link with a count of how many comments so far on the story.  To comment, you will need to click that link (or the headline).  

Disqus doesn't support multiple comment modules on a single page.

Disqus, we hope, will help us better block and control spam.  The prevalence of spam was the great shortcoming of the Facebook system. Disqus will still give us the tools we need to remove inappropriate comments, any spam that does get through, and enforce the comment rules of The Batavian.  

The rules remain the same:

  • You must post using a real name (no business names, no alias).
  • No personal attacks.  No name-calling.
  • No profanity.
  • No comments ridiculing, mocking, or insulting other people because of who they are.
  • No misinformation/false information.

We expect community conversations to be productive and respectful.  If you want to spout invective and "alternate facts," that's why Facebook exists (though we also police comments on The Batavian's Facebook page).

Most viewed posts on The Batavian for 2020

By Howard B. Owens

Most viewed posts for 2020.

For 2020, users: 1.3 million; sessions: 6.7 million; page views: 10.4 million.

A little time off

By Howard B. Owens

Billie and I are taking a little vacation -- some might call it a "staycation" since we're going to the Batavia Downs Hotel.

It's race night tonight and we'll have a good view.

But we'll also be without a scanner. That's the vacation part.

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