Queens Eagle makes national news
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MSNBC host Rachel Maddow holds a copy of the Eagle on Friday, Dec. 20. Photo via MSNBC.
By Jonathan Sperling
You knew us when.
An Eagle story posted online Thursday and in print Friday has attracted national attention for its tongue-in-cheek coverage of the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
The story, “Queens man impeached,” was published on the bottom of page 16 in the Dec. 20 issue. The headline and lede, as well as the article’s location in the paper, were so well-received that a copy of the paper made its way to the desk of popular MSNBC television host Rachel Maddow.
“The Queens Daily Eagle is a daily newspaper covering the New York City borough of Queens. And today, the Queens Daily Eagle is the best example I have ever seen of all news is local,” Maddow said, before picking up the paper and showing viewers the story, written by the Eagle’s Victoria Merlino.
The article details the impeachment of Trump, who grew up in Jamaica Estates. He’s accused of pressuring the Ukrainian government to investigate Democratic candidate for president Joe Biden, and of withholding military aid until the Ukrainians conducted the investigation.
The entire Queens House delegation voted in favor of impeachment, the Eagle noted.
Hours before the print edition of the Eagle made its way to Maddow’s desk, “Queens man impeached” had already attracted tens of thousands of website visitors and considerable attention online. A tweet posted on the @QueensEagle Twitter account that promoted the story picked up nearly 322,000 impressions as of Monday.
“BREAKING: A former Queens resident was impeached Wednesday by the U.S. House of Representatives,” the tweet stated.
The story became one of the Eagle’s most-popular stories since the paper started on June 25, 2018.
Maddow highlighted the Eagle’s choice to place the story on page 16 and not on the cover, which instead featured a story revealing the deep racial, age and gender disparities in Queens’ community boards, as well an article about five Queens subway stations recently scheduled to become ADA accessible.
“Subscribe to your local paper. Do it right now,” Maddow said at the end of the segment. “You will get news that looks different from everywhere else, even when everybody has to cover the impeachment. Local reporters know their beats, they know their constituents.”
