Wednesday, October 13, 2010
More Patch-es to local news
In the ideal world, a blog tells you about something you will see in your future. That's what this post is about. There's another news source coming. The only reason I happen to know much about the subject of the latest in local news sources is I helped organize a Social Media Club Tacoma panel last month about local news. So here's your fyi so you can know something before a lot of your neighbors.
I'm often asked about the subject of local news since I was the editor of the Lakewood Journal back when the city incorporated in the 90s. I was also the founding editor of the University Place Journal in 1995 or 1996 (the years blur the farther you get from them) Neither paper is around any more. It's often been a struggle to share local news here in the shadow of Tacoma and the even bigger shadow of Seattle. One of the reasons I started the predecessor to this blog many years ago, was because there wasn't even a reliable place to share events on the Internet. You may remember I was typing in events, etc...
That's when we all rejoiced about The Suburban Times. It's a cross between an electronic newspaper and an electronic bulletin board. You can't possibly understand what's going on in Lakewood, UP, Steilacoom, DuPont, etc.. without reading The Suburban Times. Can't happen. Yes, we have a daily newspaper, but The News Tribune is expressly designed for the region, not the specifics of day-to-day living in any one town.
The Suburban Times has that quirky, personal touch that a human being, not a news corporation, can provide. Take a look at their legislative coverage - candidates forced to hold up signs saying whether their stand is yes or no.
The Suburban Times is of course not alone in its methods when it comes to providing local news. The Times use of the Internet is one example of an enormous online news movement. There are a lot of local news blogs of different shapes and sizes. A couple of the more famous examples in Washington are the West Seattle Blog and exit133 in Tacoma. Others are also offering local news in various ways, such as the interesting KOMO experiment with local news blogs.
So ... enters a media giant. America Online. Yes, I'm serious. America Online. And its first site in Washington is, in all places, University Place.
Now you may have stopped reading at reference to AOL, because you remember all those dang CDs they kept sending around, but here's the deal. Experienced journalists are signing up for these jobs around the country. This is a serious, well-funded effort. AOL is committing a lot of money to this. Of course, money does not equal success. How it all turns out will depend on where readers and advertisers go.
If you are interested in the ebbs and flows of local news, I highly recommend you read this article about America Online's news efforts here via TechFlash. The TechFlash article is worth reading because you and I are are the ground zero of AOL's efforts in Washington. The first Patch in Washington is the University Place Patch, which is edited by Brent Champaco, a former reporter at The News Tribune. He'll be doing stuff like covering City Council meetings in UP.
Soon, one of the first Washington Patches will debut in Lakewood. The editor is journalist Marques Hunter, who most recently worked for the Gig Harbor newspaper. It will be fascinating to see how the Lakewood Patch intersects for us as a news provider with The News Tribune, The Suburban Times, and other publications. More news is better. And anyone who guesses how you'll get your local news in, say, five years or even two years is surely only guessing.
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I'm often asked about the subject of local news since I was the editor of the Lakewood Journal back when the city incorporated in the 90s. I was also the founding editor of the University Place Journal in 1995 or 1996 (the years blur the farther you get from them) Neither paper is around any more. It's often been a struggle to share local news here in the shadow of Tacoma and the even bigger shadow of Seattle. One of the reasons I started the predecessor to this blog many years ago, was because there wasn't even a reliable place to share events on the Internet. You may remember I was typing in events, etc...
That's when we all rejoiced about The Suburban Times. It's a cross between an electronic newspaper and an electronic bulletin board. You can't possibly understand what's going on in Lakewood, UP, Steilacoom, DuPont, etc.. without reading The Suburban Times. Can't happen. Yes, we have a daily newspaper, but The News Tribune is expressly designed for the region, not the specifics of day-to-day living in any one town.
The Suburban Times has that quirky, personal touch that a human being, not a news corporation, can provide. Take a look at their legislative coverage - candidates forced to hold up signs saying whether their stand is yes or no.
The Suburban Times is of course not alone in its methods when it comes to providing local news. The Times use of the Internet is one example of an enormous online news movement. There are a lot of local news blogs of different shapes and sizes. A couple of the more famous examples in Washington are the West Seattle Blog and exit133 in Tacoma. Others are also offering local news in various ways, such as the interesting KOMO experiment with local news blogs.
So ... enters a media giant. America Online. Yes, I'm serious. America Online. And its first site in Washington is, in all places, University Place.
Now you may have stopped reading at reference to AOL, because you remember all those dang CDs they kept sending around, but here's the deal. Experienced journalists are signing up for these jobs around the country. This is a serious, well-funded effort. AOL is committing a lot of money to this. Of course, money does not equal success. How it all turns out will depend on where readers and advertisers go.
If you are interested in the ebbs and flows of local news, I highly recommend you read this article about America Online's news efforts here via TechFlash. The TechFlash article is worth reading because you and I are are the ground zero of AOL's efforts in Washington. The first Patch in Washington is the University Place Patch, which is edited by Brent Champaco, a former reporter at The News Tribune. He'll be doing stuff like covering City Council meetings in UP.
Soon, one of the first Washington Patches will debut in Lakewood. The editor is journalist Marques Hunter, who most recently worked for the Gig Harbor newspaper. It will be fascinating to see how the Lakewood Patch intersects for us as a news provider with The News Tribune, The Suburban Times, and other publications. More news is better. And anyone who guesses how you'll get your local news in, say, five years or even two years is surely only guessing.
