About

Welcome to Blue Ridge Community Media 

The BRCM project is a nonprofit platform for Floyd County and the New River Valley region.  Publications include:

FloydTime, an e-news letter for Floyd County, and the New River Voice, a publication dating to 2009 based in Radford, Va.

The BRCM is devoted to quality journalism and public service information for Virginia and the New River Valley area, including Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and the counties of Floyd, Montgomery, Pulaski, Carol and Giles in the New River watershed.

BRCM is an independent non-profit organization without formal links to any educational or governmental institution.

Founding principles

1. We  will uphold the highest ideals of American journalism, subscribing to the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics, which advises:  Seek the truth and publish it; Minimize harm; Be accountable; and Act independently.  See: www.spj.org/ethics.asp.

2. We will publish regional news and information with an emphasis on public service, scientific facts, and appropriate context.  We will seek out the most interesting people and the best ideas from all frequencies of the political and cultural spectrum. We will focus on health, science, education, literature, art, architecture, planning, design and environment. We will be fearless and absolutely committed to the defense of democracy and First Amendment freedoms. We will observe and encourage the Spirit of our Age.

3. We will serve as a laboratory for generating media services revenue as an important supplement and/or alternative to display and classified advertising.  We will also develop novel structures for government and public information access (or what Walter Lippmann once called “organized intelligence.”

4.We will draw in outstanding writers, editors, programmers, bloggers, photographers, videographers, outreach specialists, poets and political observers to provide a platform for the vision and social construction of our common future.

5. Wee will work with and apply for membership in appropriate professional organizations, especially the Virginia Press Association (as an online member), the Virginia Center for Investigative Reporting, and, nationally, the Institute for Nonprofit News.

Background

The original New River Voice was a printed  news and cultural magazine produced from 2007 to 2009 in the New River Valley founded by Tim Jackson and Taryn Chase Jackson.

The Voice became an online publication around 2009.  Articles have been published regularly since then.

In 2024, a group of public spirited citizens joined in creating a public nonstock nonprofit corporation with the intention of forming an IRS education  501c3 organization.

Also see Dan Smith’s May 27, 2020 article on the Voice.

 

CONTACT

Provisional Editor/Publisher :   Bill Kovarik
bill.kovarik @ gmail.com

Facebook  http://www.facebook.com/newrivervoice