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Monday Bulletin: Look, Mom, We Made The Times!

April 10, 2023 | 4:25 AM
in COLUMNS, HISTORY, NEWS
32
Personal Collection. Photograph by Carol Tannenhauser.

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.

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32 Comments
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Michael
Michael
7 months ago

Mazal Tov – Well deserved!

5
Reply
Ellen S.
Ellen S.
7 months ago

Congratulations! Your willingness to tackle what’s gping on in the neighborhood is paying off. Thank you for your courage.

13
Reply
Physically 80; Mentally 12
Physically 80; Mentally 12
7 months ago

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)

0
Reply
S G
S G
7 months ago
Reply to  Physically 80; Mentally 12

On fake charges…”obstruction of Congress”…what BS

0
Reply
MDF
MDF
7 months ago
Reply to  Physically 80; Mentally 12

I remember that cartoon in New York Magazine!

0
Reply
victoria@westsidemews
victoria@westsidemews
7 months ago

I was so happy to see the West Side Rag mentioned when I read the article! Wow!

6
Reply
Westender
Westender
7 months ago

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.

2
Reply
Trish
Trish
7 months ago

For what it’s worth, this former journalist considers the Rag a news outlet—and a high-quality one at that!

15
Reply
MJB
MJB
7 months ago

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”.

14
Reply
Raj S
Raj S
7 months ago
Reply to  MJB

Second commentary section and censorship. Agree that it is a decent paper.

4
Reply
Brandon
Brandon
7 months ago
Reply to  MJB

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.

Last edited 7 months ago by Brandon
0
Reply
MJB
MJB
7 months ago
Reply to  Brandon

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.

Last edited 7 months ago by MJB
2
Reply
Karen
Karen
7 months ago

Thrilled to see you mentioned – a welcome go to for updated news of our neighborhood. Grateful that you’re around

1
Reply
Liz G
Liz G
7 months ago

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

1
Reply
Kayson212
Kayson212
7 months ago

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.

4
Reply
Kathleen
Kathleen
7 months ago

I think you should capitalize that “T” and wear it proudly! Love this blog….or is it a newsletter?

1
Reply
Vic Losick
Vic Losick
7 months ago

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.”

0
Reply
John French
John French
7 months ago

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.

1
Reply
Carmella Ombrella
Carmella Ombrella
7 months ago

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?

5
Reply
MJB
MJB
7 months ago
Reply to  Carmella Ombrella

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.

8
Reply
Cathrine Steck
Cathrine Steck
7 months ago

I love the West Side Rag!! Thank you all for doing all you do to bring it to us!

2
Reply
Pat
Pat
7 months ago

Rag, you get it right. And often first, at least for me.
High standards, great job. Keep on keepin’ on.

2
Reply
Raj S
Raj S
7 months ago

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.

11
Reply
Cheryl Dolinger Brown
Cheryl Dolinger Brown
7 months ago

I’m very proud of my favorite rag which I read daily! Mazel tov.

2
Reply
Lillie
Lillie
7 months ago

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”!)

4
Reply
Lydia
Lydia
7 months ago

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?

0
Reply
Phil
Phil
7 months ago

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!

4
Reply
R L
R L
7 months ago

Congrats!

0
Reply
Jane
Jane
7 months ago

Great article Carol…. I, too, read the WSR and I’m an Upper Eastsider! Congratulations on the
mention in the Times.

0
Reply
Sally Koslow
Sally Koslow
7 months ago

Your kudos in the New York Times are well deserved. I love the Rag!

0
Reply
Emily McLintock
Emily McLintock
7 months ago

Great article and love that your broke the story and we’re credited, whether it is capital T or not.

0
Reply
carol ardman
carol ardman
7 months ago

❤️❤️❤️😘❣️

0
Reply

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