{"id":32435,"date":"2022-02-25T06:00:17","date_gmt":"2022-02-25T12:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=32435"},"modified":"2022-02-25T09:12:45","modified_gmt":"2022-02-25T15:12:45","slug":"block-club-chicago-adds-reporters-melody-mercado-mack-liederman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2022\/02\/25\/block-club-chicago-adds-reporters-melody-mercado-mack-liederman\/","title":{"rendered":"Block Club Chicago adds reporters Melody Mercado, Mack Liederman"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Melody Mercado and Mack Liederman (Photos: Zach Boyden-Holmes\/The Des Moines Register; Colin Boyle\/Block Club Chicago)<\/p><\/div>\n

With the addition of two new reporters, Block Club Chicago<\/a>\u00a0just expanded its full-time staff to 22. That\u2019s nearly a threefold increase since the nonprofit neighborhood news site launched in 2018.<\/p>\n

The latest to sign on are Melody Mercado, who most recently was a reporter for the Des Moines Register, and Mack Liederman, former per-diem news writer at Nexstar Media WGN-Channel 9 and freelance contributor to Block Club Chicago.<\/p>\n

\"This expansion was\u00a0made\u00a0possible\u00a0by Block Club's readers, who continue to prove that if local news is relevant to their lives, they will support it,\" said Stephanie Lulay, executive editor and co-founder of the hyperlocal news operation, which now boasts 18,000 paid subscribers. \"We're grateful for their\u00a0tireless\u00a0support.\"<\/p>\n

Mercado, who hails from Belvidere, Illinois, and earned journalism degrees from Bradley University and DePaul University, began her career with WHO, the NBC affiliate in Des Moines. In her new role, she'll cover she\u2019ll cover the Loop, River North and West Loop neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thrilled to be joining a newsroom that values and is centered on hyperlocal reporting,\u201d Mercado said in a statement. \u201cI\u2019ve greatly admired Block Club Chicago since I first read about its Kickstarter campaign in 2018, and I can\u2019t wait to get started.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liederman, a native of Westfield, New Jersey, graduated from Vassar College and Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.<\/p>\n

As a general assignment reporter, Lulay said, Liederman will \"fill in the gaps in neighborhoods where we don\u2019t have full-time coverage yet and shine a light on the unsung Chicagoans who make the city tick.\"<\/p>\n

Said Liederman: \u201cAs a reporter it is a great joy to make neighbors feel seen and heard. Block Club has given me the support and confidence to tell stories across Chicago that too often go untold, from the silly to the serious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lulay co-founded Block Club Chicago with Shamus Toomey and Jen Sabella. All three are former editors of DNAinfo Chicago.<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s comment of the day:<\/a> Bill Figel:<\/strong> The backdrops to the Chicago Sun-Times' \"Murals and Mosaics\" series have been a treat to read on Sundays. Bob Herguth and his resourceful reporters and ever-nimble photographers should take a bow. There is public art beauty and intrigue in every corner of Chicago. Having it at your fingertips, delivered to your porch is special. Hail The Bright One.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the addition of two new reporters, Block Club Chicago\u00a0just expanded its full-time staff to 22. That\u2019s nearly a threefold increase since the nonprofit neighborhood news site launched in 2018. The latest to sign on are Melody Mercado, who most recently was a reporter for the Des Moines Register, and Mack Liederman, former per-diem news... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32435"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32435"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32440,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32435\/revisions\/32440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}