Finding the beat: Topic-centered sections come to The Rapidian

We now have designated pages for our music beat, politics beat, and food beat. These topics-focused sections have developed from our new communities of reporters that are covering what are called "beats."

Not long ago, we told you about the new communities of reporters forming around specific topics or interests here on The Rapidian. We invited anyone interested in these topics to join our beats and provided a community to work with and a leader, or facilitator, to organize the group. We thought it'd be fun for reporters to work together, to meet like-minded Rapidian contributors, and to get to know others that were concerned about the news getting out about what they cared about.

As it turns out, they've been pretty busy sharing their stories with you.

Samantha Dine paved the way with her food beat that started last summer. Beat reporters covered everything from local market options to new restaurants to new breweries opening up. They even made sure that Joel Salatin's visit to town didn't pass us by without getting his opinion on our local discussion among city commissioners about allowing chickens in the city. Grand Rapidians are great supporters of their food culture, whether it's their farmers, their restauranteurs or their microbrews, so it's no surprise that this beat's community has created some of the most popular stories on our pages lately.

This past fall, Nick Manes found himself leading a passionate and informed politics beat. It became clear early on that this group understood the importance of our citizens being informed about local government and politics issues happening that could easily be overlooked. They make sure there's regular coverage of city commission meetings, keep us informed of political events and have even managed to get press passes when political figures such as Vice President Biden come to town.

Just this year, Ken Ford has formed the music beat. Before even meeting once, they hit the ground running with a flood of reviews and interviews to prepare us all for the 13th annual Jammies awards concert. Fans of all kinds of local music are covering music ranging from blues to creole to post-punk to folk. 

With all of the coverage coming from these communities of reporters, we decided it was high time they had their own designated space for their articles. You can now find all the articles created by the music beat, the politics beat, and the food beat in their own sections. This will give our readers an easy way to see what these dedicated reporters have been up to. And a great place for these growing and flourishing beats to show off all their hard work!

Each of the beats is open and welcoming to anyone interested in joining their beat. Just let us know in a quick email and we'll connect you with the right people!