Jacob "Jake" Dobkin is an American journalist, blogger, author, and co-founder of

Gothamist ''Gothamist'' is a New York City–centric blog operated by New York Public Radio. From 2003 to 2018, Gothamist LLC was the operator, or in some cases franchisor, of eight city-centric websites that focused on news, events, food, culture, an ...

. He is currently a director of

New York Public Radio New York Public Radio (NYPR) is a New York City-based independent, publicly supported, Nonprofit organization, not-for-profit media organization incorporated in 1979. Its stated mission is "To make the mind more curious, the heart more open and t ...

Biography

Dobkin is a native of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and grew up in

Park Slope Park Slope is a neighborhood in South Brooklyn, New York City, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park (Brooklyn), Prospect Park and Eighth Avenue (Brooklyn), Prospect Park West to the east, ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. He graduated from

Stuyvesant High School Stuyvesant High School ( ) is a co-ed, State school, public, college-preparatory, Specialized high schools in New York City, specialized high school in Manhattan, New York City. The school, commonly called "Stuy" ( ) by its students, faculty, a ...

, attended

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university in Binghamton metropolitan area, Greater Binghamton, New York, United States. It is one of the four uni ...

, and graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1998. He also received an MBA from

New York University Stern School of Business The Leonard N. Stern School of Business (also NYU Stern, Stern School of Business, or simply Stern) is the business school of New York University, a private research university based in New York City. Founded as the School of Commerce, Accounts ...

in 2005. Dobkin worked as an IT consultant when he co-founded the blog

in 2003 with his Columbia classmate, Jen Chung. 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 ''Business Insider'' (stylized in all caps: BUSINESS INSIDER; known from 2021 to 2023 as INSIDER) is a New York City–based multinational financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Inside ...

. He once criticized ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' 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. ''New York'' magazine and

Gawker ''Gawker'' was an American blog founded by Nick Denton and Elizabeth Spiers that was based in New York City and focused on celebrities and the media industry. According to SimilarWeb, the site had over 23 million visits per month in 2015. Fo ...

claimed that his comments sabotaged the company's supposedly successful acquisition by James L. Dolan's media company

Cablevision Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its ex ...

. In 2017, Gothamist was purchased by DNAinfo, founded by conservative billionaire

Joe Ricketts John Joseph Ricketts (born July 16, 1941) is an American businessman. He is the founder, former CEO and former chairman of TD Ameritrade. He has an estimated net worth of US$4.1 billion as of 2024, according to ''Forbes''. He has pursued a variety ...

, and Dobkin was kept to run the blog. Ricketts shut down the site in November 2017 after writers voted to unionize.

WNYC WNYC is an audio service brand, under the control of New York Public Radio, a non-profit organization. Radio and other audio programming is primarily provided by a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations: WNYC (AM) and WNYC- ...

announced in 2018 that it has pooled the resources to buy the blog and hired Dobkin and Chung. 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. He is also a photographer of street art and urban landscapes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobkin, Jake Living people People from Park Slope American bloggers Columbia College (New York) alumni Stuyvesant High School alumni Binghamton University alumni New York University Stern School of Business alumni American journalists American online journalists American publishers (people) Writers from New York City American columnists Year of birth missing (living people)