Jerry duPhilly’s Out and About has thrived over the decades by featuring restaurants and entertainment options, with a distinctly whitebread flavor.
in recent years, the magazine sometimes took on a more serious tone by focusing on weightier issues in moving into middle age.
Like many media sites, Out and About is acknowledging the systemic racism that is part of everyday life for so many, but gets scant attention by Whites.
To his credit, duPhilly has devoted an issue of Out and About to the issue with the theme Where Do We Go From Here?
“In my 32 years of publishing Out & About, this may be our most important issue. Just three weeks ago, we assembled a committee of 13 Guest Editors – all leaders in our Black community – and changed the entire focus of our July issue to stories this group felt should be told now,” DuPhilly stated. “As always, print copies of this issue are available throughout the community, however, I wanted to provide access to our digital version of the magazine that you can easily share.”
People in the business community should click here to view their stories or if you are “out and about,” pick up a copy. (An electronic issue is also available here).
Taking on the News Journal or Delaware Today?
Chris Kenny’s fledgling media company is taking shape. The CEO of the family-owned group of Shoprites in northern Delaware now has two hyperlocal sites and a newly launched statewide presence known as DelawareLive.
The media presence is now comprised of the long-running MilfordLive, hyperlocal site in the Kent-Sussex community, north of the canal, community news site TownSquare Delaware as well as DelawareLive.
MilfordLive owner and state Rep. Bryan Shupe and former TownSquare co-owner Christy Fleming remain involved. Also listed in the launch announcement was DuPont Country Club co-owner Ben duPont.
A key component of DelawareLive is a downloadable PDF product that comes out on Sundays. It has the look of a magazine like Delaware Today or Out and About. Shupe’s Milford Live uses a similar format to produce a weekly facsimile newspaper.
DelawareLive got a boost with TownSquare’s stories that often feature a look at the one percent (Greenville, private school) side of northern Delaware. More recently, it has reported on social issues. Shupe has pitched in with a story or two about the legislature.
Also coming on board at DelawareLive was News-Journal Editor Betsy Price. Betsy’s writing and reporting will add some snap to DelawareLive if she has time to write. Live video is also being added through such things as picking up feeds from events like Wilmington’s Clifford Brown Jazz Festival.
But as Delaware Business Times Editor Peter Osborne observed, DelawareLive is currently laden with rewritten press releases. (It’s something we all do, even the News Journal, truth be told).
Osborne suggests that Kenny needs to beef up on reporting staff before taking on the Gannett paper/website.
For now, Kenny is spending start-up money on a slick, upbeat promotional video that frequently appears on cable channels.
Kenny has other irons in the fire that include the A Better Delaware public policy group. A Better Delaware’s focus seems to be on what it views as the state’s poor business climate and high taxes.
Kenny has also launched his own website/blog, which is advertised in the online version of the Washington Post and issued a nationally distributed press release announcing his site. There is also the Delaware Pigeon (yes that’s its real name), a hotline where one can offer their thoughts or questions to Kenny.
All of this activity led some to speculate that Kenny will run for governor. So far, he has offered no hints on his intentions. 2024 might be a good bet.
Kenny did dip his toe into online commentary with a post on the meaning of July 4th and his goal for DelawareLive. Here’s an excerpt:
“Out-of-state, corporate-led media conglomerates should not be dictating the direction of our local news. Local media with politically-driven agendas should not hold domain over the many varied voices in our state.”
News Journal’s Feeley has a lot on his plate
News Journal Editor Mike Feeley now has overall supervision of the editorial side of Gannett papers in a wide area extending from Burlington County NJ to Hagerstown, MD. Local editors will remain although Feeley’s. two News Journal lieutenants, Phil Freedman and Robert Long will get regional responsibilities.
As noted above, Betsy Price was apparently let go from a top-tier position at the Gannett paper.
No mention was made in the announcement of the weekly Gatehouse papers in Delaware (Dover Post, Hockessin Community News, etc.) that are also under Feeley’s supervision. Content from the weeklies is making it way into the News Journal, which in its print product is a mishmash of content from New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware.
Curiously, Feeley, who was part of a Pulitzer-price winning effort that chronicled the sexual abuse scandal of Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, did not get responsibilities for Gannett properties in the Keystone State. – Doug Rainey
