Monday, April 10, 2023
Mostly sunny. High 65 degrees.
Notices
Our calendar has lots of local events! Click on the link or the lady in the upper righthand corner to look.
For a list of Community Board 7 committee meetings this week, and links to join, click here.
Not Just Good News, Great News!
By Carol Tannenhauser
It was exhilarating for the Rag to be mentioned, rather extensively, in The New York Times on Friday, in Katherine Rosman’s article, “Shun Lee or Not Shun Lee? For Chinese Food Lovers, That Is the Question.”
First of all, it was The Times, which we are proud to call our hometown paper. Second, it was a great article — fun and illuminating. It talks about the connection between the Jews and the Chinese, dating back a century to a time when these were “the two largest non-Christian immigrant groups in New York;” and the Jews and Chinese restaurants, which “provided a place to dine on Sundays and Christmas;” and Chinese restaurants and the Upper West Side. Rosman spoke to Jennifer 8. Lee, a former New York Times reporter and author of “The Fortune Cookie Chronicles,” who said the practice of slipping menus under apartment doors originated with another Upper West Side Chinese restaurant (Empire Szechuan, then on 97th and Broadway), calling the neighborhood “a ground zero of American Chinese food innovation.”
By this point, I was craving an egg roll.
Times reporter Rosman noted that the Rag had uncovered the Shun Lee controversy in its weekly Openings and Closings column — without a doubt our most popular feature, typically garnering close to 20,000 views per column. Rosman dove into it with investigative zeal, which made me think about good journalism, and, of course, about the Rag.
In her first reference to us, Rosman called us The West Side Rag, as in The New York Times, capital T. It may seem like a small thing, but you’ll notice that the “The” is included in The Times’ masthead. It is not in ours, so we call ourselves, the West Side Rag. But The Times wrote, The West Side Rag.
“It looks good,” I thought, but, maybe, a little cocky for a local, neighborhood – wait…..what did she call us??
“On the Upper West Side,” Rosman wrote, “word of a new Shun Lee was reported in January 2022 in The West Side Rag, a popular blog that has been covering community news since 2011.”
A blog? Is that what we are, albeit a popular one? I looked it up. According to the Oxford Dictionary, a blog is “a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style.”
“Omg, we’re a blog,” was my first reaction, but then I reconsidered. Yes, we can get a little informal and conversational in our style, but we take the profession of journalism very seriously. It is our responsibility to get not just the facts, but the tenor of a story, and communicate both clearly and fairly to you. As one team member — an esteemed journalist and teacher — sometimes reminds us, paraphrasing the Associated Press, “It’s not just important to get it first, but to get it right.”
And to make you laugh once in a while.
Happy Holidays.
Mazal Tov – Well deserved!
Congratulations! Your willingness to tackle what’s gping on in the neighborhood is paying off. Thank you for your courage.
Ah-hhh, my all-time favorite headline, “Trump Impeached” !
And some of us “old-tymers” may recall the Herblock cartoon of then-president Nixon being menaced by a giant peach (Nixon was facing imPEACHment over the Watergate mess)
On fake charges…”obstruction of Congress”…what BS
I remember that cartoon in New York Magazine!
I was so happy to see the West Side Rag mentioned when I read the article! Wow!
Cheers to WSR! And boo to the Times, which wrote a long accusation—which is unsubstantiated, but you’d only know if you get to the last few paragraphs. The area around 98th and Broadway is fortunate to have a determined new restaurant owner and some quality Chinese food.
For what it’s worth, this former journalist considers the Rag a news outlet—and a high-quality one at that!
WSR is a blog because of the comments section. Most comments are very informative and inspire dialogue.
I would have to say though that WSR’s censorship of these comments is very biased. Hateful comments are seeping through though. Nobody is perfect, but if WSR improves in this category, it would be a perfect “blog”.
Second commentary section and censorship. Agree that it is a decent paper.
No offense, but you’re all over the comment sections here, MJB. If the comment moderators are censoring people, that doesn’t seem to have stopped you from sharing your views…many times.
None taken.
I have been active lately, true. That was caused by the news of new shelter/supportive housing opening and then the attack from the homeless man I experienced last week. Sore and pressing issues. I will get over it and quiet down.
My point was that in a lot of cases the comments have been censored because they were outside of the WSR narrative. Yet personal insults came through if the were from the left. I don’t think I insulted anyone.
However, I have to say that considering no media outlet can be 100 percent unbiased, WSR is one of the best.
Thrilled to see you mentioned – a welcome go to for updated news of our neighborhood. Grateful that you’re around
Big congrats!! For what it’s worth, when I’m talking to friends about something I read in the Rag (which definitely happens often!) I usually call you a “local news blog” or “neighborhood reporting blog” or some combination of those
WSR is not a blog — it’s part of a vital network of local journalism desperately needed in this age of collapsing newspapers and thinned-out neighborhood coverage. Congrats and carry on.
I think you should capitalize that “T” and wear it proudly! Love this blog….or is it a newsletter?
Years (60) ago The New York Times had a period at the end of its name on the masthead, as in “The New York Times.”
As a lifelong resident of the upper west side, my family ate regularly at Shun Lee on 91st street and Broadway. We even had our favorite waiter, Danny who informed us in 1965 that they were moving to the east side. It was sad but soon after Chun Cha Fu opened, managed by Mr. Lee until it closed around 1990 and became Carmines.
Congratulations! Agree that the Times article was great and the tribute to WSR well-researched and well-deserved. But blog? Nah. WRS is a professional neighborhood newsletter produced to solid journalistic standards. I respectfully disagree with the comment that it is a blog because it prints comments. Is The New York TImes a blog because it prints comments in the form of letters to the editor?
Not because it simply prints comments, but because lots of information comes from the comments. We, locals, like to engage in a discussion here, hence the “blog” feel. Doesn’t take anything away from the quality of journalism.
I love the West Side Rag!! Thank you all for doing all you do to bring it to us!
Rag, you get it right. And often first, at least for me.
High standards, great job. Keep on keepin’ on.
WSR is good, but it is definitely geared towards older audience, mainly seniors. It should try to cover interests and concern of the entire West Side, not just long-timers, but young families with children as well.
I’m very proud of my favorite rag which I read daily! Mazel tov.
As a Times editor and devoted West Side Rag reader, I was delighted to see this wonderful blog/local news outlet cited in the article.
The uppercase “The” is because of Times house style: “For consistency, capitalize the article in every magazine or journal name commonly written or spoken with an article.” (“Article” in this case meaning “the”!)
Congrats Carol. Your article about Rosman’s article is as good as Rosman’s!
Now how do I get you to answer my emails about writing for the WSR?
This is so not a blog.
As a journalist all my life — and an Upper West Sider for all of two years now — I tell my friends that one of the MANY wonderful things about moving to the UWS is that the online neighborhood newspaper is clearly written by professional journalists. And really really good ones, at that.
That didn’t happen anywhere else we’ve lived.
Keep up the good work!
Congrats!
Great article Carol…. I, too, read the WSR and I’m an Upper Eastsider! Congratulations on the
mention in the Times.
Your kudos in the New York Times are well deserved. I love the Rag!
Great article and love that your broke the story and we’re credited, whether it is capital T or not.
❤️❤️❤️😘❣️