Editor’s Notes: Looking at the Cambridge Spy after Year One

It could be longer depending on how you measure it, but it’s safe to say that the Cambridge Spy has survived its first year and feeling awfully bullish for the second one.

Started in the midst of COVID, but with the loving support of WHCP Community Radio, the Cambridge Spy began life as the third Spy newspapers serving the Mid-Shore. Joining the Chestertown Spy (2009) and Talbot Spy (2011), the Cambridge edition was a long overdue addition.

Using the once popular masthead name of Spy in the 18th Century, including the Chestertown Spy which began publication in 1793, these hyper-local education daily news portals have proven over the last 13 years to be an extremely useful tool for citizens and residents to engage in the spheres of public affairs, the arts, and regional culture.

And after our first year operating in Cambridge, I’d like to believe we’re well on our way to becoming that kind of special resource for Dorchester County. While the last year or so has brought special challenges to both the Spy and the community, including the second year of COVID and the unexpected resignation of a mayor, it also was a time filled to almost endless opportunities with the developing waterfront project, the Canning Building, a vibrant city council, and the return of civic and cultural organizations.

During that time, the Cambridge Spy did find a creative way to share with our readers and Facebook followers many of these exciting programs, and we’re particularly honored to have worked with WHCP on timely public affairs coverage, including local elections, local ecosystem concerns, and some outstanding programs to help our public schools and their students.

We’d also spend quality time with Dorchester’s leading arts and cultural institutions and their leaders. Through the Spy’s use of multimedia, we’ve done over 200 video original content interviews or profiles.

Nonetheless, I know it may take a few more years for the Cambridge Spy to reach its potential. It will take time to build a local team of writers and reporters and it will take time to be fully embraced (trusted) as the nonpartisan, educational project it is at a time of high distrust of mainstream  news coverage.

But baked into the modest business plan for the Cambridge Spy from the get go was patience. The Spy intends to continue our slow and steady integration into the fabric of community life over the next few years in the high hope that it can be a sustainable asset with significant community support, to maintain its special mission.

For those readers that already see the value-added potential of the Cambridge Spy, I do hope you might consider a modest donation to help us during these critical early years. Those tax deductions donations are particularly welcome as we began to meet the costs of writer fees and special news coverage.

To make a donation the Cambridge Spy summer drive, please go here to make a donation. For those interested in sending a personal check, please send to the following address

Cambridge Spy Fund
C/O Mid-Shore Community Foundation
102 East Dover Street
Easton, MD 21601

It remains one of the great honors for all of us with Cambridge Spy to serve this special community and I thank you in advance for your support.

Dave Wheelan
Editor
Cambridge Spy