After 2 Spinoffs, Journal Media Group Looks to Strengthen Digital Offerings
The new Journal Media Group includes the 17 dailies that used to be part of E. W. Scripps and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which used to be owned by Journal Communications. We asked the company’s president, Tim Stautberg, about what JMG will be doing to succeed in both print and digital…
Media Experts Huddle to Map a Plan for the Future of Digital News
Digital news publishers — especially at the community level — are in a fight for survival. Last week, the RJI convened a one-day “leaders workshop” in Chicago that drew 29 representatives from different segments of the news industry. We caught up with several of the participants to hear about the conclusions they came to…
How Local Papers Could Out-Maneuver ‘Ubers’ in the Digital Space
Papers could convert their “subscribers” into “members” who get special treatment with access to a digital page called “Rapid City Central” (or somesuch), which would serve up information that makes the community a better place to live and work, or not, based on reliable data and community feedback…
ARLnow Flips Bethesda Site, Expands Big Into Center of D.C.
The independent community news network that has been busy expanding in the shadow of the Washington Post – has just executed some eye-grabbing moves. It 1.) sold its Bethesda Now site in suburban Maryland, 2.) bought a dormant three-neighborhood site in the District of Columbia and 3,) will resurrect and expand its acquisition…
Yik Yak Makes Inroads as a More Serious News Service
In its less than two years of existence, Yik Yak has spread across the country, mostly at communities centered around college campuses. It’s true that a lot of the company’s content is sophomoric. But I think that will change, based on a new pilot that the service has launched with the University of Florida…
TribLocal Branding Is Replaced by Pioneer Press in Many ChiTrib Communities
From its launch in 2007, TribLocal was the Chicago Tribune’s highly branded network of suburban news print inserts and e-sites covering sprawling Chicagoland. Now TribLocal has lost most of its branding and been replaced by the Tribune’s recently acquired Pioneer Press in many communities. We recently caught up with Bob Fleck, the Tribune’s recently appointed general manager and publisher of […]
How a Vermont Site Bested 2 Dailies and Weekly — 2 Years After Launch
In the “Northeast Kingdom” of Vermont is Orleans County. Orleans has a population of only 27,169, but it is the location of a four-way competition among community news publishers — digital and pure play. The newest competitor is the pure-play independent Newport Dispatch, which, in less than two years, has captured the biggest digital audience in Orleans…
Borrell on Local News: Inform, but Help Businesses Thrive
“We can certainly view people who frequent hyperlocal news sites as ‘readers’ who are there for the content. But once we begin to realize that they are likely to be buy something that day, tomorrow, or next week, then we begin understanding the real value of that audience,” says the CEO of Borrell Associates…
Community Publishers Mixed on Borrell Prescription for Content
Gordon Borrell minced no words in Street Fight recently when he talked about content and audience in the revenue-hot digital space that his new annual local media report pinpoints. He said: “It’s so much not about readers. It’s so much more about consumers. So those folks who are trying to develop hyperlocal sites around good […]
Dallas Morning News Bets Ranch on Its Local/Hyperlocal Strategy
For the Dallas Morning News, local and hyperlocal — increasingly digital but with a continuing and strong print presence — define the future of the 130-year-old A. H. Belo Corp. newspaper. To find out more about what the DMN is doing to plan for the local digital future, we talked recently with several executives in charge of that strategy…
How to Get to 5 Years of Success in Hyperlocal Publishing
This month Scott Brodbeck is celebrating the fifth anniversary of ARLnow, which has expanded into a mini-network of four sites in metro Washington D.C. We caught up with Brodbeck recently to see how he’s made a journalistic and business success out of community news and where ARLnow is headed in 2015…
Community News and the Long Game: An ‘Indie’ Makes a Case for the ‘One-Off’
Community news has a decade-plus of digital publishing experience, but it’s not yet clear which kind of community platforms will be winners. New Canaanite founder Michael Dinan has many perspectives on the issue…