Jake Dobkin
{{Short description|American journalist and blogger}}
{{Infobox person
| name =
| birth_name = Jacob Dobkin
| birth_date =
| birth_place = New York City, U.S.
| nationality = American
| education = Columbia University (BA)
New York University (MBA)
| alma_mater =
| occupation = Journalist, publisher, author
| employer = New York Public Radio
| known for = Co-founding Gothamist
}}
Jacob "Jake" Dobkin{{Cite web|title=Jacob Dobkin|url=https://gothamist.com/staff/jake-dobkin|access-date=2022-02-04|website=Gothamist|language=en}} is an American journalist, blogger, author, and co-founder of Gothamist. He is currently a director of New York Public Radio.{{Cite web|date=2018-02-23|title=Gothamist Is Back From the Dead, Thanks to Public Radio|url=https://observer.com/2018/02/dnainfo-gothamist-revived-wnyc/|access-date=2022-02-04|website=Observer|language=en-US}}{{Cite news|last=Mullin|first=Benjamin|date=2018-02-23|title=Gothamist to Relaunch After Sale to WNYC|language=en-US|work=Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/gothamist-to-relaunch-after-sale-to-wnyc-1519411548|access-date=2022-02-04|issn=0099-9660}}
Biography
Dobkin is a native of New York City and grew up in Park Slope, Brooklyn.{{Cite web|last=Kensinger|first=Nathan|date=2019-05-23|title='Don't ever leave': A native New Yorker reflects on four decades in NYC|url=https://ny.curbed.com/2019/5/23/18635984/gothamist-jake-dobkin-ask-a-native-new-yorker-photo-essay|access-date=2022-02-04|website=Curbed NY|language=en}} He graduated from Stuyvesant High School, attended Binghamton University, and graduated from Columbia University in 1998.{{Cite web|last=Grieve|title=Q&A with Jake Dobkin, co-founder of Gothamist and author of 'Ask a Native New Yorker'|url=https://evgrieve.com/2019/04/q-with-jake-dobkin-co-founder-of.html|access-date=2022-02-04|language=en}}{{Cite web|date=2019-04-24|title=Take Five with Jake Dobkin '98|url=https://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/latest/take-five/take-five-jake-dobkin-98|access-date=2022-02-04|website=Columbia College Today|language=en}} He also received an MBA from New York University Stern School of Business in 2005.{{Cite web|last=Tanzer|first=Myles|title=Has Gothamist Changed New York?|url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/mylestanzer/has-gothamist-changed-new-york|access-date=2022-02-04|website=BuzzFeed|date=16 May 2014 |language=en}}
Dobkin worked as an IT consultant when he co-founded the blog Gothamist in 2003 with his Columbia classmate, Jen Chung.{{Cite web|title=The Eyes of Gotham|url=https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/eyes-gotham|access-date=2022-02-04|website=Columbia Magazine|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=INTERVIEW: Gothamist's Jake Dobkin on answering New Yorker's burning questions in his latest book|url=https://www.6sqft.com/interview-gothamists-jake-dobkin-on-answering-new-yorkers-burning-questions-in-his-latest-book/|access-date=2022-02-04|website=6sqft|language=en-US}} He left his job to work for the blog full-time in 2005. In 2007 and 2008, he and Chung were named one of "New York's coolest tech people" by Business Insider.{{Cite web|last=SAI|title=69. Jen Chung, Jake Dobkin|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/sa100/2008/jen-chung-jake-dobkin|access-date=2022-02-04|website=Business Insider|language=en-US}}
He once criticized The New York Times prior to a panel with media critic David Carr, calling the paper's “old-fashioned reporting” out-of-touch with a younger generation of readers.{{Cite web|last=Thompson|first=Derek|date=2010-02-04|title=No, More Blogs Would Not Save the New York Times|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/02/no-more-blogs-would-not-save-the-new-york-times/35290/|access-date=2022-02-04|website=The Atlantic|language=en}} New York magazine and Gawker claimed that his comments sabotaged the company's supposedly successful acquisition by James L. Dolan's media company Cablevision.{{Cite web|date=2010-02-02|title=Gothamist Founder And Blogger Jake Dobkin Slams New York Times|url=https://www.mediaite.com/online/gothamist-founder-and-blogger-jake-dobkin-slams-new-york-times/|access-date=2022-02-04|website=Mediaite|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Voice Editor Ortega to Kamer: 'Stop Apologizing for Writing Such a Great Dick Joke'|url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2010/05/voice_editor_ortega_to_kamer_s.html|access-date=2022-02-04|website=Intelligencer|date=11 May 2010 |language=en-us}}{{Cite web|last=Rovzar|first=Chris|title=Gothamist Sale Falls Through|url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2010/06/gothamist_sale_falls_through.html|access-date=2022-02-04|website=Intelligencer|date=18 June 2010 |language=en-us}}{{Cite web|last=Tate|first=Ryan|title=Gothamist Founder May Have Tweeted His Way Out of $5 Million|url=https://www.gawker.com/5566602/gothamist-founder-may-have-tweeted-his-way-out-of-5-million|access-date=2022-02-04|website=Gawker|language=en}}
In 2017, Gothamist was purchased by DNAinfo, founded by conservative billionaire Joe Ricketts, and Dobkin was kept to run the blog.{{Cite news|last=Rosenberg|first=Eli|date=2017-03-08|title=DNAinfo Buys Gothamist, With Plans to Merge Local Websites|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/08/nyregion/dnainfo-buys-gothamist.html|access-date=2022-02-04|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite magazine|date=2017-11-15|title=The Story Behind the Unjust Shutdown of Gothamist and DNAinfo|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-story-behind-the-unjust-shutdown-of-gothamist-and-dnainfo|access-date=2022-02-04|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en-US}} Ricketts shut down the site in November 2017 after writers voted to unionize.{{Cite news|last=Newman|first=Andy|date=2018-02-23|title=Gothamist Will Publish Again in Deal With WNYC|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/23/nyregion/gothamist-dnainfo-deal-wnyc-publish-again.html|access-date=2022-02-04|issn=0362-4331}} WNYC announced in 2018 that it has pooled the resources to buy the blog and hired Dobkin and Chung.{{Cite web|last=Kelly|first=Keith|date=2018-02-23|title=WNYC radio says it's bringing back Gothamist|url=https://nypost.com/2018/02/23/wnyc-radio-says-its-bringing-back-gothamist/|access-date=2022-02-04|website=New York Post|language=en-US}}
In 2013, he started a column called Ask a Native New Yorker, and adapted his columns into a book of the same name that was published in 2019.{{Cite web|date=2019-05-08|title=New York doesn't have to be that hard—just ask Jake Dobkin {{!}} Brooklyn Based|url=https://brooklynbased.com/2019/05/08/ask-a-native-new-yorker-jake-dobkin/|access-date=2022-02-04|website=brooklynbased.com|language=en-US}} He is also a photographer of street art and urban landscapes.{{Cite web|title=Manhattan Carves a New Subway, Part 1: Jake Dobkin's Underground Photo Essay|url=https://www.core77.com/posts/21923/Manhattan-Carves-a-New-Subway-Part-1-Jake-Dobkins-Underground-Photo-Essay|access-date=2022-02-04|website=Core77|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Web App Tracks Graffiti Artists In Urban Areas, Popular Neighborhoods To Tag|url=https://chicagoist.com/article/undefined|access-date=2022-02-04|website=The Chicagoist|archive-date=2017-11-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171106193205/https://chicagoist.com/2013/12/02/the_gathering_of_the_juggalos_leavi.php|url-status=dead}}
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobkin, Jake}}
Category:People from Park Slope
Category:Columbia College (New York) alumni
Category:Stuyvesant High School alumni
Category:Binghamton University alumni
Category:New York University Stern School of Business alumni
Category:American online journalists
Category:American publishers (people)