Christopher Robbins had reached his breaking point in the middle of the year 2021. Mr. Robbins was prepared to break free of his enslavement after being fired from a job that he had genuinely cared about and after seeing many media firms in New York City fail over the course of several years.
Nick Pinto, 44, and Max Rivlin-Nadler, 34, also expressed the same level of aggravation as he did. Mismanagement, inadequate financing, and severe cutbacks to budgets were cited as the primary reasons for all three of the individuals’ decisions to either voluntarily quit their respective professions or be fired during the course of their careers.
It turned out that there were a few obstacles that needed to be overcome. The first thing that needed to be done was to assemble a strong group. Nearly fifty journalists agreed to meet on a chilly day in late January at the 9th Street Community Garden in the East Village after Mr. Robbins, Mr. Pinto, and Mr. Rivlin-Nadler sent out bulk emails to dozens of freelancers and local reporters. The group presented their concept while snacking on pizza and drinking beer.
Their enthusiasm was infectious, and it drew in Sydney Pereira, 27, who had left her work at Gothamist the previous year in August, only a few short months after Mr. Robbins had been fired. While in between freelancing jobs, Ms. Pereira was working at a coffee shop, and she was experiencing a profound sense of burnout over her professional life. However, as she spoke with the three guys about their new project, she felt some of the excitement she had had for it return to her.
The quinfecta was finished off when 39-year-old Esther Wang, who had previously worked as a reporter for Jezebel, was brought on board. Hell Gate is a scrappy news channel that doubles as a blog. It was given its name after one of the city’s most sturdy bridges that spans one of its most turbulent bodies of water. Since its soft launch in the spring, the website has garnered more than 8,000 free newsletter subscribers in the two months that have passed since the introduction of a paywall on Wednesday.
So, can you tell me about a Hell Gate story? If you ask the proprietors, a Hell Gate narrative is something that every New Yorker has seen while strolling down the street. It is a brief, once-in-a-lifetime experience that everyone in the city marvels about but can’t quite put their finger on. Do nutcrackers still cost $15 per today? That’s a tale from the Hell Gate. Why are people in New York City establishing eye contact with complete strangers at this time? You should put it on the Hell Gate.
The authors often imbue their reporting with a tone that is distinct, witty, and amusing; this style is quickly becoming Hell Gate’s trademark tenor. They have a tendency to strike on very particular anecdotes that might evoke the impression of recognising a common New York City experience. These are the kinds of experiences that inhabitants of New York City either laugh about or complain about in equal measure.
Along the way, there are other pieces that have a more hawklike watchdog perspective on the most prominent people in the city. Hell Gate was the first news outlet to announce that police officers in New York City had fractured a grandma’s arm while detaining her. The incident occurred as the grandmother was attempting to collect documentation for a new glucose monitor.
The news quickly spread throughout the internet, fanning the fires of anger on social media. This caught the attention of Jumaane D. Williams, the public advocate for the city, who then requested that the Police Department offer explanations.
The journalists make an effort to strike a balance between serious and humorous topics. Stories on Hell Gate criticising the city’s criminal justice system for wrongfully convicting a man are as common as a semi-regular column rating public bathrooms across New York City or pointing out the new congressional district’s resemblance to a penis. Both columns are examples of topics that are covered frequently on the website.
Hell Gate has already distinguished itself from the more self-serious news sources in the city in only its first two months of publication by adopting a more relaxed and carefree attitude toward appreciating the city’s more eccentric aspects. And it is just this mentality that has already drawn the attention of some of the more prominent news sources.
In a newsletter that was sent out at the beginning of the previous month, the authors of Hell Gate made light of various media outlets who, in their opinion, had published articles that were inspired by their own work without giving them credit.
Mr. Pinto explained that the event served as “a testament to the fact that even if other places aren’t necessarily committing the person power or the sort of creative brain space to find these kinds of stories, someone at these publications recognises that they’re important and that there’s an appetite for them.”
One of the things that they mentioned as one of the things that has kept them going over the past few months is the sense of joy that their ideas bring. One example of this is their profile of Leh-Boy, who New Yorkers may be familiar with as the man who bikes around the city balancing soccer balls and trash cans on his head. It’s the sensation of excitement and inspiration that they desperately sought throughout their careers but never managed to find, and it’s the emotion that drives them to keep looking for it in every narrative.
Hell Gate has brought their agency back to their work and reminded them of the reasons why they do what they do after many years of jumping from one job to the next and questioned why they were still holding on in the profession.
