{"id":378796,"date":"2026-10-21T10:40:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T10:40:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/378796\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T10:40:46","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T10:40:46","slug":"neighbors-reel-after-bronx-behemoth-shutters-community-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/378796\/","title":{"rendered":"Neighbors Reel After Bronx Behemoth Shutters Community Newspaper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neighbors stunned by the closure of a local newspaper in The Bronx<\/a> are rallying behind an effort to relaunch the community mainstay, with or without help from its former owner \u2014 the borough\u2019s largest employer.<\/p>\n

In August, the owners of the Norwood News \u2014 Mosholu Preservation Corp., an umbrella organization of Montefiore Einstein Medical Center \u2014 announced the paper was going on an \u201cindefinite hiatus,\u201d citing costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the paper\u2019s final issue, Daniela Beasley, who heads the corporation, wrote that \u201cafter years of working to sustain the publication, we have reached a point where an indefinite hiatus is necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Norwood News was created in 1988 by a former head of\u00a0Mosholu Preservation Corp., Dart Westphal, who wanted to connect residents in the north-central Bronx<\/a> to the organization\u2019s programming and give them a voice during an era of revitalization in The Bronx.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Its closure 38 years later left some neighbors reeling at the loss of their semi-monthly newspaper, which covered everything from politics to crime to culture.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s Where We Live\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"The front page of the final edition of the Norwood News, August 28, 2026. Credit: Norwood News<\/p>\n

In early October, a dozen former staffers, activists, and neighbors gathered at a private home in Norwood to brainstorm ways to bring the paper back, with more chiming in over Zoom.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jarrett Murphy, whose first paying job in journalism was at the Norwood News while a student at Fordham University, said the group was committed to bringing back some form of neighborhood news. Although he\u2019s since pivoted to nursing, Murphy spent years in local news, most recently as editor in chief of City Limits magazine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was an important resource that we need to restore or recreate somehow,\u201d he said, adding that nearby neighborhoods were \u201cvery lucky\u201d to have had the paper. \u201cA lot of neighborhoods don\u2019t have that and it\u2019s bad and it\u2019s wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

While they are looking at different models and ways to bring it back \u2014 from a website to a newspaper \u2014 the activists said they would love some financial support from Montefiore.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to restore a news service for Norwood because it\u2019s the place where we live and love. We\u2019d love for Montefiore and MPC, who started and backed the Norwood News, to be part of that,\u201d Murphy said.<\/p>\n

Federal Cuts Blamed<\/p>\n

The Norwood News\u2019 closure comes amid a drastic decline in local journalism in The Bronx<\/a> and across New York\u2019s neighborhoods.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Montefiore said the decision to shutter the paper was based on \u201cresources.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone following the federal cuts<\/a> that have impacted systems like ours will understand that we must rededicate all our resources to the delivery of care to our patients,\u201d the spokesperson, Bryan Lesswing said.<\/p>\n

He added the company had offered the newspaper to The Riverdale Press, a locally-owned paper that covers another section of the Bronx.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd while The Riverdale Press has declined our offer to take over publication, we remain committed to ensuring that our patients get the information they need to make decisions about their healthcare,\u201d Lesswing said.<\/p>\n

But Stuart Richner, the president of Richner Communications, Inc, which operates The Riverdale Press and other papers, said that offer came years ago \u2014 and that he had argued for MPC to keep it running.<\/p>\n

\u201cI pushed to meet with them to say, you should reconsider, it\u2019s important to have this paper in Norwood,\u201d he said. \u201cThey chose not to do that. To put any fault on us or blame on us is kind of ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Drop in the Bucket<\/p>\n

The Montefiore Health System is the largest employer in The Bronx, with more than 36,000 employees. It\u2019s the 14th biggest employer in New York.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In its 2024 tax filings, the most recent publicly available, Montefiore reported $5.91 billion in revenue, and $5.62 billion in expenses. President and CEO Dr. Philip Ozuah\u2019s salary was listed at more than $16.6 million. Salaries at MDC included more than $1.6 million for the then-director, and three other staffers making more than $300,000 in salary and other compensation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The organization also paid more than $17.3 million to Chromista Inc, a California-based film company opened by Oscar-nominated director Darren Aronofsky, listed as \u201cfreelance support.\u201d More than $17.2 million was paid to consultants McKinsey and Co.<\/a><\/p>\n

The organization also spent $9.8 million on travel that year, and more than $10.1 million on conferences, conventions, and meetings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And it brought in more than $13 million in parking income, and more than $7 million from its cafeteria and vending machines, according to the tax document.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By contrast, the cost to operate the Norwood News, including salaries, was paltry \u2014 around $211,000 a year.<\/p>\n

\u2018Honor of a Lifetime\u2019 <\/p>\n

While the closure of the paper came as a surprise, the organization had begun withholding resources from the Norwood News for years, according to outgoing editor in chief S\u00edle Moloney.<\/p>\n

Before the pandemic, the Norwood News had a full-time editor leading a staff that included a part-time proofreader and events listing coordinator, one part-time advertising salesperson, at least two part-time reporters, two part-time photographers, an office manager, and up to four interns.<\/p>\n

By the time of its closure, Moloney had absorbed most of those roles, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the honor of a lifetime to have been part of a team who, over 38 years, documented the stories of the people of the North Bronx and beyond, creative, resilient, funny, open-minded, hardworking, forward-thinking, generous people,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so very sorry we were unable to get to the hundreds of other stories we had in the pipeline, the types of stories we really wanted to tell had we just had a little more bandwidth,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

David Greene first encountered the Norwood News in 1995 as a subject of its Inquiring Photographer feature while sitting outside a laundromat. He published his first photo in the paper a year later, and by 2008 had taken over the feature, asking Bronxites topical questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He also spent nearly 20 years delivering the paper, and often wrote articles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Greene said he didn\u2019t buy the health system\u2019s explanation of why it closed the paper. He instead wondered if Montefiore had grown reluctant to support a newspaper that covered the good and the bad of their borough, including on a divisive nurses\u2019 strike<\/a> earlier this year at their own hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ruffled some feathers,\u201d Greene, who also created a petition<\/a> to help save the paper, said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Big Things for Local Neighborhoods\u2019 <\/p>\n

Jordan Moss spent around 15 years at the Norwood News and took part in the meeting to find ways to bring it back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think Montefiore really understands what a unique, important news entity that the Norwood News is, or was,\u201d he said. Moss\u2019 job there was hands-on; he\u2019d take a cab to pick up the papers himself from the printer, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could just stick with things for a long time that were big, big things for local neighborhoods \u2014 schools that weren\u2019t built on time, tons of things with the School Construction Authority, tons of things that they postponed for years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we weren\u2019t there to constantly put it in the community\u2019s face there, it wouldn\u2019t have gotten done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marcelo Lopez Lopez, a community activist, said the newspaper was a way for his community to both feel connected and feel they had an outlet. \u201cIt\u2019s important in the circles I\u2019m in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The News\u2019 absence has left Norwood limping, one resident said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot having a newspaper is like removing a bone in a person\u2019s skeleton,\u201d said Stephanie Coggins, a longtime Bronx resident and Norwood News reader. \u201cWill they be able to stand up? Yes, probably, but they won\u2019t be as strong and they won\u2019t be as straight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janet Goodman-Clarke, a longtime resident and reader, said she read the final issue with heartfelt goodbyes from politicians and thought, \u201cWhy aren\u2019t they doing something?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the people in power, they shouldn\u2019t just be waving goodbye, they should be doing something,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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