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The Batavian's coverage-leading stories of the past week

By Howard B. Owens

In the past week, The Batavian once again brought you more news about Genesee County than any other news source.  

Below is a list of the bylined stories The Batavian published over the past week ahead of any other news outlet, and, again, in many cases, The Batavian was the only news source to bring you these stories.

The Batavian's dedication to bringing you the most local news first is a good reason you should sign up today for Early Access Pass.  News coverage is a lot of work, and in order to continue to stay on top of it, we are asking for reader support through Early Access Pass.

Please be sure to sign up for Early Access Pass today.

The Batavian brings you more local news faster

By Howard B. Owens
don't be that man early access pass

The Batavian brings you more local news coverage than any other news source in Genesee County.  Here are the stories we reported before the competition in the past week.

Here are 23 reasons to sign up today for Early Access Pass. 

Click here to sign up for Early Access Pass

The Batavian bringing you more news faster than any other local news source

By Howard B. Owens

When it comes to getting news out first, The Batavian doesn't always beat the competition, but we beat them more often than they beat us.

We work hard to bring you the news of our community quickly, thoroughly and accurately.  

We do a lot of original reporting and break a lot of important stories, but our format also allows us to publish all of the press releases we receive, which helps us lead all other news sources in bringing you the most local news.

This is why you should sign up for Early Access Pass.  We bring you more news faster, and as a member of Early Access Pass, you get access first.

Here is a list of stories published over the past seven days, excluding press releases and scanner reports (just original reporting) where we beat the competition.  These are also stories in the vast majority of cases, the competition hasn't even covered yet. 

And speaking of exclusive coverage of important community news, The Batavian broke the story earlier this year of the change in maximum income requirement for the apartments at Ellicott Station (perhaps one of the most important stories of the year) and the competition has barely covered anything about the issue.  

And as for the biggest story of the past week, the changes at Batavia Downs, The Batavian not only broke the story locally but provided the most thorough and in-depth coverage.

When you support The Batavian, this is the kind of dedication to covering the community you are supporting.

A reminder on how Early Access Pass works: When we do original reporting, meaning something, we go out and gather information to report, and write a story that has a byline on it, for the first four hours after publication, that story will be exclusively available to people who have joined Early Access Pass. However, posts that are press releases or scanner reports, and some other occasional items, will be available immediately upon publication.  In one way or another, everything we publish remains free for those who either don't want to sign up for Early Access Pass or who can't afford to sign up.  We appreciate the support of everybody who signs up, but joining is completely optional. 

To sign up for Early Access Pass, click here.

The reviews are in: Readers love The Batavian and Early Access Pass

By Howard B. Owens

We've been receiving praise on multiple fronts for the introduction of Early Access Pass, our new program that gives readers the ability to support our local journalism in exchange for early access to original, bylined news stories.

Here's what readers have been telling us:

"My husband and I believe that you, Howard, and The Batavian staff does excellent work, and we appreciate your efforts." -- Kay Lennon

"We had been thinking about direct support of your site for some time. Even more so lately, seeing the new names and announcements of hires.

With yesterday's announcement of the 15th Anniversary (Congratulations, btw....) and unveiling a creative yet gentle way to entice people to subscribe, it made sense to do our part. We've always appreciated the site not forcing subscriptions like most other outlets do, because:

We believe that being connected to local news is important for a healthy community. Knowing what's happening in our own backyards helps raise awareness of events that we can have an effect on. We appreciate having an unbiased news source, and that is still free for our neighbors who may frequently face difficult financial choices.

Thank you for the excellent work, congratulations on the milestone and in being able to bring new workers into the business." -- Dan & Sue Jag

 

"I have been reading The Batavian on a daily basis since its inception. The Batavian consistently offers well-rounded, unbiased reporting on a variety of topics in the region.  One of the greatest features is the speed of the news to the readers. For me, it’s made traditional newspapers obsolete."  -- Mike Davis

"We're very impressed with what you are doing. The Batavian puts the print papers to shame!  Keep up the great work!!" -- Jerry and Carol Foster

"I read the Batavian because it makes it easy to keep up with local news and events.  You can access it at any time, on your computer or phone.  It is so easy.  Let's not forget the Deal of the Day.  Love the bargains."  -- Tabatha Torcello

"The Batavian keeps me informed about Batavia. We are “Snowbirds,” so keeping in touch is important to us. Thank you." -- Bill Lawrence

"You do great work.  Our community is fortunate to have you (Howard Owens and Joanne Beck) as journalists who capture news stories that touch people’s hearts." -- Robyn Brookhart

Sign up now for Early Access Pass. Don't be the last to know.

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

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.

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