Voices of Monterey Bay celebrated a milestone last month when it surpassed 1 million page views to its site since its founding less than four years ago.
That’s not too shabby, considering that we’re still a fledgling online-only weekly journal administered by volunteer journalists who are dedicated to providing a platform for a range of voices. And it’s a minor miracle that we’re still around, inasmuch as we’re a nonprofit staffed by journalists who aren’t comfortable asking the right people for philanthropic help. Someday we’ll figure out the revenue side of this endeavor but it hasn’t happened yet.
In any case, the staff is more interested in telling stories or, better yet, finding dynamic people with their own stories to tell. We are especially proud of our annual Youth Media Project, a journalism bootcamp that provides training to high school students and provides them the outlet to tell the stories of their generation.
Voices is also dedicated to investigative reporting and explanatory journalism. It’s no surprise that the most popular stories we’ve published since October 2017 are the stories that public figures don’t want us to tell. In that regard, we’ve been fortunate to have one of the best investigative reporters in California at our disposal. Royal Calkins has been pricking and prodding at the festering sore of public corruption for decades, and his work for Voices has been stellar.
Crunching our “circulation” numbers, we’ve learned that Voices of Monterey Bay has been seen by more than 375,000 unique readers over the years. Voices has published more than 1,500 stories during that time. Many of our readers found VOMB during the first year of the pandemic, when Voices ventured outside its weekly routine to provide near-daily updates of local COVID-19 news.
But it’s the hard-hitting news stories that readers really seem to care about. We’ve compiled a list of the 20 most popular stories published by VOMB since 2017. With all humility, we must say that we’ve made a difference in this community.
The following is our Top 20 Stories:
- New Leaf to be owned by South Korean ‘hypermarket’ Emart
- Monterey County sheriff accused of serial affairs with subordinates
- Guía para la cuarentena — ¿qué puedo y no puedo hacer durante este aislamiento obligatorio?
- Salinas fire chief already on the hot seat
- The Nightmare at Bixby
- How a criminal organization took control of a nonprofit community group in Salinas
- Coverage of racist issues at Salinas High School
- Carmel Mayor Accused of Sexual Harassment
- Joni, Joan and a bummer scene at Big Sur
- New FPPC complaint filed over Laguna Seca deal
- A Family’s Rock-Star Memories
- To Be Or Airbnb: Short-term Rentals
- For the incarcerated, fear and loss of family contact as officials struggle to keep virus at bay
- The Case of the Stolen Big Sur Succulents
- Man convicted of murder accuses police and DA of ‘massive official misconduct’
- The Cop Who Bent All The Rules
- How the pandemic has affected teens’ body image
- Closing down nature
- In Search of Steel-Cut Oats in the Time of the Pandemic
- Empty Kitchens
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