By Adam Pagnucco.
The Baltimore Banner, a non-profit online news outlet founded by hospitality executive Stewart Bainum in 2022, is considering expanding its coverage to Montgomery County.
Last week, market research company Salomo ran the above post on Facebook asking for opinions on “local news in Montgomery County.” The post linked to a survey on behalf of the Baltimore Banner. The intro page stated:
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Welcome! Thank you for taking part in this research.
Salomo is a market research company conducting research into local news in Montgomery County on behalf of the Baltimore Banner.
We’d love to hear your thoughts to help shape the future of local reporting! Your voice matters — this is your chance to tell us what you need from local news.
The format is quick, easy, and even fun! It’s an AI-led voice interview — we’ll ask you short, written questions, and you’ll respond with simple voice notes. No typing, no hassle — just speak your mind!
As a thank you, you’ll receive a $50 Amazon gift card for a completed interview.
The interview takes around 15 minutes. Click below to get started—we can’t wait to hear what you think!
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I participated in the interview, which was conducted by AI. It asked me about MoCo news sources on which I rely, a particular story that impacted me and my impressions of the Banner. It asked this specific question: “Moving on to your local area, if the Baltimore Banner were to expand into Montgomery County, what specific aspects of the coverage do you think would be important to highlight in that expansion? Are there particular topics or issues you hope they would focus on?”
It also sent me a $50 Amazon gift certificate for completing the survey!
I asked the Banner for comment on this on Friday. As of this writing, they have not responded.
So how about it, folks? Would you like to see the Baltimore Banner cover MoCo?