Category: Commentary/Editorial || By

It's been more than a year since I announced that Tube City Online was looking for writing and reporting help ... and that I was even willing to pay for assigned contributions.

The response has been underwhelming, to put it gently.

In a related matter, you may have noticed that activity at Tube City Almanac has been fairly light this month. Well, when the primary editorial voice (a phrase I stole from Ohio Media Watch) is also the only editorial voice, things tend to drag.

I'm just running out of gas. I am doing 95 percent of this website by myself, and after 15 years of it, I'm just tired.

. . .

So I'm going to lay it on the line: Either I get some help, or I drastically scale back the site. This isn't a threat; it's just the reality of trying to hold down a job and have some semblance of a life.

I continue to believe there's a need for Tube City Almanac and Tube City Online. The reasons I cited back in December 2009 in this interview with Chris Potter of Pittsburgh City Paper remain true today:

Togyer tells me he launched the site in part because "the Pittsburgh media really doesn't care about McKeesport unless we're shooting each other." There are exceptions, of course: Togyer has kinds words for the Mon Valley beat reporters at both the Trib and the Post-Gazette. But extra voices never hurt.

Togyer's goal is to provide "newsmagazine-type coverage" of his community -- occasionally breaking stories, but more often shedding a different light on them. Which is why he's looking for help now.

Readership at Tube City Online (and at the Almanac) continues to be strong. We occasionally break news and we try to provide an independent source of information that, yes, is maybe a little bit "progressive" or left-of-center.

I'm not going to apologize for being left-of-center; the Daily News, which I respect, has a very conservative editorial page. It's only good sense that Tube City Almanac's niche should provide an alternative. At heart, I'm a capitalist, and I believe competition is a good thing, as is a diversity of viewpoints.

. . .

It's worth noting that under the auspices of our non-profit parent corporation, Tube City Community Media Inc., we've even branched out from the Internet.

Last year, we went into "print" for the first time by distributing our Tube City Online Guide to McKeesport. Sponsored by Chatham University, those maps continue to be popular and some are still available, if you'd like to distribute them at your church, school or organization.

We've also produced coverage of the McKeesport Symphony Pops for Pittsburgh's WRCT-FM (88.3), and we continue to seek opportunities to bring a public radio station to McKeesport.

In 2010, we also webcast International Village for the second year in a row, and did a pretty credible job, if I say so myself. We had help from several community volunteers, including Doug Goffus, a disc jockey from North Versailles Twp., and Eric O'Brien of the Pittsburgh Radio and TV website.

. . .

So, what do we need? We need some co-editors/co-bloggers. Dedicated volunteers would be best. I need people who can write, or are willing to learn, and preferably, I need them to be local to the Mon Valley.

I especially need people with different perspectives. (To put it bluntly, I'm a white guy in his mid-to-late-30s. I don't know if I'm the right person to cover the perspectives of African-Americans, women or seniors, who make up a substantial part of the McKeesport-area population.)

Will we continue to pay people who contribute? We will try. Covering a municipal meeting isn't exactly a barrel of laffs; it's work, and people who do work should be compensated. But if someone wants to donate their time to make this successful, we'll take it.

. . .

Up to this point, running Tube City Online has been rewarding and often fun. (I'll admit there are nights that it's just frustrating.) Projects such as the International Village webcast are a lot of work, but they're also a blast.

I think it will be even more rewarding to take this website to the next level. But I absolutely cannot do that without some community support and without some additional creative input.

You say you want to make the McKeesport area better? Well, here's your chance to step up and help create something for the community. You say no one is listening? Well, you can have a voice here.

Email is j togyer, at gmail dot com. It's up to you.

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