THE BALTIMORE BREW IS MORE MAINSTREAM THAN I ....BUT THEY DO A GOOD JOB FOR THE PEOPLE...LET'S HOPE THEY DON'T GO FOR THE PROFITS!    THEY MAY SWING FOR THE THIRD WAY ...... I'M NOT CLEAR YET.  CHECK THEM OUT.

Stirring up News and Views in Baltimore Maryland
 What is it?
Baltimore Brew is a daily online journal featuring independent reporting and informed commentary about greater Baltimore. Think of us as your post-apocalyptic* source of information and insight on the city.

Who publishes Baltimore Brew?
Fern Shen is the founder, editor and publisher. Contact her at baltimore.brew@gmail.com .  Learn more about the Brew Bloggers.

What is Baltimore Brew about?
It’s about Baltimore’s neighborhoods, housing, politics, environment, real estate, downtown development, schools, transportation, crime, justice, media and whatever else seems worth covering. Books, the arts, culture, food/drink, history, interesting things to do or places to go, all may eventually be found at the Brew.

Is this an online news site or a blog?
Call us what you will. The site has staff-reporting, selective linkage, opinion, conversation and a big welcome mat encouraging collaborators, tipsters and contributions from across the city. Baltimore Brew consists of blogs, longer features and a multi-media gallery. Posts and stories are tagged by neighborhood and subject. A lot of this material comes from award-winning journalists with decades of experience covering Baltimore. Sometimes, the contributors are plugged-in people with a strong point of view or special expertise or access. Occasionally, your satori moment at the Brew will come from a powerful photograph, a hilarious video or a cool interactive map. We strive throughout the site for independent, accurate reporting, delivered in a way that’s lively, accessible and smart. We don’t presume to report on everything that ought to be covered in this whole big region. We’re just trying to supply some of what’s being 86-ed off the media menu around here lately, experiment a bit.*

How often do you make a fresh batch?
We try to have something new every day, Monday through Friday.

What are you aiming for? Why “Brew?”
You know, “Your daily mug of news & views.” We aim to be essential and habit-forming, both caffeinated and hoppy. Our main ingredients? Freshness, for one thing. We serve up an explanation for that weird thing you saw on 83 this morning, pass along a tart and timely tip from the coolest parent on the playground, give you some mind-blowing back-story on the news of the day. Professionalism is another. Whether filing a short item or assembling a long investigative piece, we favor time-honored techniques: source-cultivating, document-reading, going places, talking to people and thinking about context and what’s fair. If that sounds too much like the Keebler elves, our brewers are also planning to fully integrate web sensibilities into the site. We’ll be training staff to shoot and edit photos and video, maybe teaming them up with student interns. We’re inviting dedicated readers, neighborhood activists and others in the community to submit their own weblogs, photos, videos and op-eds. Getting the formula right will be tricky. If you think we’ve overdone it with the eye-of-newt, let us know.

Who reads Baltimore Brew?
Newcomers and long-timers, Baltimoreans from all over town, anyone who lives, works, visits here or just misses the place. The Brew is dedicated to publishing a diversity of voices and reaching out to those underserved by existing media. We hope that by recognizing our common interests – to improve and enjoy Baltimore, to network with neighbors — the Brew will become a homepage for the whole city.

Can I participate in Baltimore Brew?
Yes, besides commenting on blog posts and stories, you can email us with news tips and story suggestions here: baltimore.brew@gmail.com . We welcome all proposals for collaboration and content. Contact us if you want to blog about your neighborhood or some particular topic or have us publish your letter-to-the-editor. We also welcome multi-media of any kind (photos, videos, podcasts, animations, maps, graphics, etc.) Corrections and criticisms, same thing: send ‘em on.

How do I advertise or support Baltimore Brew?
Contact the editors at baltimore.brew@gmail.com.

* Post-apocalyptic?
Yes, as in, a world where somebody thought it was a great idea for The Baltimore Sun to create “b” … and to ditch the foreign bureaus and scores of experienced, professional journalists. Yeah, yeah, we know, it’s the way of the world …newspapers have been steadily losing circulation and advertising, which..blah blah blah … rise of the Internet and …blah blah …Craigslist and Facebook and Cars.com … blah blah… pompous mainstream media gatekeepers … insufferable bloggers in pajamas …¦scary media consolidation … ¦outsourcing cop checks to India …and Sam Zell and Lee Abrams, for god’s sake …. Yeesh. You’ve heard all that, let’s skip over it. Until the business model gets sorted out, we figured we’d make a place for Baltimore’s journalists, techies and news-starved readers to get together and do some good things. That’s the plan.