In the spring of 2012, Journatic, the for-hire community news shop, was a hot property in the hyperlocal industry. But less than three months later, following a report on "This American Life" about Journatic's practices, Tribune and several other publishers suspended all work by the local news company. Tribune has resumed some use of Journatic's work since, and I recently went to the company's new VP of media services, Hanke Gratteau, to find out more about how the service was faring...

Daily Voice, the recently scaled-down regional network of 41 community news sites, filed for and won Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week. The move gives the company relief from an expensive class-action suit by two former reporters who said they and other Daily Voice staff worked overtime consistently but were never paid for the extra hours...

With local merchants looking at more and more digital marketing options in their search for customers, community news sites have to be aggressive in selling themselves to potential advertisers (and raising revenue that will pay for editorial and other improvements). How can they make the most of their traffic numbers, which are much lower than those at most commerce-based sites?

For answers, I went to Julie Brooks, CEO of eCape.com, who went into and then out of, an ambitious program of agency-like marketing services; Mike Orren, president of the new marketing service firm Speakeasy, which he co-founded with the Dallas Morning News; and Carll Tucker, CEO of Daily Voice, who is considering expansion of marketing services it offers.

"If there's any clear message, it's what I've been saying for the past four or five years: Starting and running a local news site is hard work," says the Batavian editor and publisher. "You need a good model, a solid plan, the ability to work long hours and handle multiple disciplines and stick with it for years and years with no promise of ever striking it rich. If you can do that, you're on the right track."

In looking at the categories of ad revenue, Borrell found that displays ads, which have taken a lot of heat in the industry for their supposed increasing irrelevance,, remain the dominant choice of businesses. But targeted display has moved ahead of run-of-site display, and targeted's rate of growth is far higher...

The grand, this-is-where-we’re-going commitment at the Journalism That Matters meeting held last week in Denver was encouraging. Local journalism needs this re-invention of what it does and how it relates to a newly empowered public that is outgrowing its old role as a passive consumer of news. I hope, though, that JTM members will also make “investigating new economic models” an important part of the new news ecology they’re creating.

There’s a saying that’s echoing more insistently today in hyperlocal publishing: “Don’t compete – collaborate.” Editor and publisher Susan Mernit puts that saying into practice at Oakland Local, partnering with other media and non-profits to juice content, build visibility, and generate revenue...

Local publishers have long served their communities by shining a light on municipal issues until the folks at City Hall take notice and fill in those dangerous potholes. But in the past few years we've also seen several startups pop up that want to make an even more direct connection between citizens' complaints and government action...

The neighborhood-centric news site has created a guide that lets users zoom in and out so they can get the nitty-gritty about specific schools and compare it to other schools throughout New York City. The way the design uses dots and arrows to retrieve many pages of articles is a singular achievement in user-friendliness...