My Media Diet: Untapped New York's Michelle Young
Promoting local journalism and listening to public radio with a four-year-old.
Welcome to My Media Diet, a semi-regular feature where some of the brightest people around recommend books, discuss the music they’ve had on heavy rotation, and share some insights about their own work. Here’s a conversation with Michelle Young, the founder of Untapped New York, a site dedicated to revealing secrets of the city, and a professor at CUNY's Craig Newmark School of Journalism.
Who are you?
I'm the founder of Untapped New York, an online magazine and experience company about NYC's secrets and hidden places. The company is a manifestation of my longtime love for cities. I'm also an adjunct professor of architecture at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, where I teach an urban studies/urban design studio and a teacher at CUNY's Craig Newmark School of Journalism. I'm also the author of the books Secret Brooklyn, New York Hidden Bars & Restaurants, and Broadway.
What’s your typical media diet?
Because I work in media, I keep evolving my media consumption to fit what's going on with me professionally and personally. In the peak years of local online reporting in the aughts and as I was learning the business, I religiously followed dozens of local New York City news websites a day. Curbed New York and Gothamist were my must-visits, along with many other websites including writers, journalists, and hobbyists who ran their own blogs.
As Untapped New York has settled into its own niche, I find that I'm finding sources beyond local news (and especially because much of the local news in the city has collapsed, like the rest of the country). As such, I do checks of the New York Times, CNN, and my Twitter feed to get the feel of each day. The publications give a macro perspective of what's happening around the world and in the country, while my Twitter feed keeps me in touch with the folks on the ground working on urban issues in New York City.
Most of our ideas for content on Untapped New York, just like how we got started, still come from being in tune with the city, walking around it, talking to people, developing great sources who share tips and expertise, and being creative. From a personal perspective, I've felt that the longer I've worked in this area, the more I crave to be reading about things outside of its direct sphere so that we're not always circling around the same stomping grounds as everyone else.
What’s your favorite app?
Ah, me and my phone have a difficult relationship. I hate how tied we are to our devices and almost never let my daughter, now four, use screens except if we're at a hotel on vacation. I strongly believe hand-held devices will have negative consequences on this generation, who will grow up not knowing that there was a time before they existed and have trouble focusing and learning how to be creative.
Yet, mobile devices are necessary for work so of course I can't live without mine. For more than six years, I've had all notifications turned off on my phone, except for phone calls and texts. That means, no red notification numbers on apps, no notifications on my locked screen, or notifications sliding down from the top. I turn off my work emails at the end of the day and I keep my phone on Do Not Disturb until the morning. All that being said, it appears from the Screen Time app that I spend the most time on Twitter (after my browser). I do find my Twitter feed quite fun most of the time.
What’s the last great book you read?
I read Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth this summer about her experience as a woman in World War I. She temporarily gave up her dream of going to Oxford after her first year there to be a nurse, then lost the love of her life in the trenches of France. She writes an unflinching and often dryly funny reflection of society at the time, despite the horrific things she saw and experienced. It's been called one of the few World War I memoirs that really showed what life was like outside of the battlefield (although she was certainly close enough with her nurse work throughout Europe). I'm about to embark on Anderson Cooper's new book, Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of a Dynasty and I'm really excited about it.
What kind of music are you most into right now?
I used to be a cellist in a rock band called Kittens Ablaze. I'm classically trained at Juilliard, but indie rock music was definitely a calling. We performed showcases for several years at SXSW, performed at venues like Bowery Ballroom and Mercury Lounge here in NYC and went on several tours. These days, my husband I curate lists on Spotify for different moods. There's my list "Coffeeshop for Home" which is great for relaxing at home or road trips. My husband has a list called "Good Stuff" that's more upbeat and another, "Good Party Stuff." My musical style remains to this day in the indie rock to indie electronica range, but I do enjoy some cheesy pop at times like Ed Sheeran! I'll admit it!
What do you listen to on long car rides?
A lot of NPR and WNYC, and then our Spotify playlists. My toddler learned a lot of words from listening to public radio already. I'd also like to get back into audiobooks as my kids grow up. I have fond memories of the commute my dad and I would take in and out of New York City for Juilliard as a kid and he would always check out an audiobook from the library to listen to.
How do you unwind?
My happy place is a hot cup of tea (a smoky Thes du Tigre from Palais des Thes is my favorite) and reading a great non-fiction book (usually about WWII) or Vanity Fair under a blanket in front of a fireplace. Even if I can't get all those elements, give me a WWII book and I'll devour it with relish.
What’s something you wish more people would understand?
How impossibly difficult the financials of online journalism are. I always hear complaints about ads and ad targeting, and I get that some publications are really merciless with intrusive ads (something we have always fought to avoid at Untapped New York). But truly, here are the numbers. For every page an article is viewed, a publication makes usually at best half a cent. That is considered good in the industry.
Now try to extrapolate that and see how many page views a publication needs to sustain one staff member, two staff members. From this, you get a picture why some websites go clickbait, why some put more intrusive ads year after year, and why so many go out of business or need to get bought to survive. At Untapped New York, we have diversified our revenue streams so we can keep the quality of the products we have high, continue our dream of editorial independence, and keep our readers and customers happy, but the return on online advertising declines year over year due to the hypertargeting available from technology.
So, please support local journalism however you can, try to keep the ads on and support their analogous endeavors, and understand that the production of content is a labor intensive, expensive business. It's not an easy business to be in at all, but is so necessary for a good civil society to exist.
The other thing: If you are humble, you get the results you want. Whether it's a customer service issue you have, or a request for press coverage, or a partnership that you want. Don't assume that there isn't a person behind the email you are sending. Your tone of voice goes a long way into how we respond. On my end, humility is essential to what I do — I know there is no way to ever know everything about New York City or be an expert in everything — and I actively seek humility in the people we hire.
What’s the next thing you’re looking forward to?
Giving birth to my second daughter and taking some time off. With my first daughter, I went back to teaching after two weeks and back to my company within two months. I thought I was bored at home, but then I was exhausted for over a year after and I vowed not to do it again. So this time, we've put in place what we need to make that happen! I'm also looking forward to our fixer-upper townhouse renovation to be done. I'm literally living in a construction zone while almost nine months pregnant and I'm ready to start settling in!
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