Archive by Author
Not-for-Profit News Deep in the Heart of Texas
Posted on 27. Jul, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
The wave of not-for-profit start-ups looking to cover local and statewide news continued to grow last week with the announcement that the Texas Tribune acquired the Texas Weekly, a subscription newsletter devoted to Texas politics and government. As newspapers continue to struggle and advertising revenues fall, it seems like new news organizations are finding it […]
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News Innovators on the Frontline: Voice of San Diego
Posted on 24. Jul, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
As metro newspapers have faced an ugly year of decline and collapse, media observers have pointed to a number of not-for-profit efforts around the country that might fill the void. The Voice of San Diego is a notable example of a new breed of news organizations already taking up the slack, which is more than […]
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News Innovators on the Frontline: The Alternative Press
Posted on 22. Jul, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
The publisher of The Alternative Press, Michael Shapiro, left his position as a litigator at a law firm in New York City to launch the site in October 2008. A longtime blogger, he started The Alternative Press (the online-only alternative to printed papers in the area) in just his hometown of New Providence, NJ. But […]
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A Thank You to Local Arts & Entertainment Sites
Posted on 20. Jul, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
We’ve already profiled one sports site in-depth–MGoBlog, the soup to nuts destination for University of Michigan sports fans. Many more profiles are on the way. Unfortunately, we don’t have time to profile every site that fills out our survey, but they all deserve our thanks and recognition. The information they’ve provided will help us build […]
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E-commerce and News, Lessons from the UK's Telegraph
Posted on 17. Jul, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
Revenue, revenue, revenue. For good reason in this economy, all of the sites we’ve talked to so far have wanted to hear ideas for making more of it. So we’ve been a bit surprised at how few are experimenting with e-commerce, which is frequently held up as a strong potential revenue stream for online news. […]
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News Innovators on the Frontline: CityBizList
Posted on 15. Jul, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
CityBizList is a free email product sent to business people every morning in five metro areas—Baltimore, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Boston and Washington, D.C. Founded in 2005 by Edwin Warfield, CityBizList is aimed at the general business reader, but with an added emphasis on commercial real estate and the lawyers and bankers who serve that industry in […]
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News Innovators on the Frontline: Gothamist
Posted on 13. Jul, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
Gothamist.com was launched in 2003, as co-founder Jake Dobkin says, “by a few friends having a good time, talking about a subject they were interested in.” They only realized a few years later that they could sell more than enough advertising to sustain the site. Today, the Gothamist is a profitable brand with sites in […]
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Talking Fantasy Newsroom
Posted on 09. Jul, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
Martin Langeveld over at the NiemanLab posted yesterday on the essentials he would build into a newsroom if he were starting one from scratch. His ideas include what should be obvious by now, like incorporating the url into branding and encouraging what Jarvis calls the link economy. Langeveld also suggests wikifying the news and thinking […]
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Lessons from SeattleCourant.com
Posted on 08. Jul, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
We’ve tried to highlight some successful local news sites out there in recent weeks (and we’ll do more, so please take our survey!), but there is no question that for most start-ups life bends more towards the Hobbesian view. The story of the SeattleCourant.com, which shut down late last month, is a stark reminder of […]
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News Innovators on the Frontline: WestSeattleBlog
Posted on 03. Jul, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
The husband-and-wife team of Patrick Sand and Tracy Record run WestSeattleBlog.com. She is the site’s primary reporter and editor, while he handles advertising sales and business development. Since January 2006, the pair have covered the bedroom community of West Seattle (over 65,000 residents) seven days a week, 365 days a year. They started selling ads […]
