AOL has hired former Northfield News reporter Corey Butler Jr. to be its new editor of Northfield Patch (not yet open). The corporate Patch About page says that it’s "a community-specific news and information platform dedicated to providing comprehensive and trusted local coverage for individual towns and communities."
Patch is also soon launching in Eagan, Edina, Golden Valley, Richfield, and St. Louis Park. I was to meet with Minnesota Patch regional editor Don Wyatt today in Apple Valley but he had to cancel.
MinnPost’s David Brauer has blogged about Patch’s arrival in MN (see his posts: July, Aug, Sept, and Oct). There’s plenty more to read online about Patch, as it’s commonly seen as the most well-funded of the national hyperlocal community news ventures. AOL has deep pockets.
Since Patch goes after local advertising dollars, I see them as a competitor to the Northfield News, KYMN, and the Northfield Entertainment Guide. Since Patch does community event info and seeks content from citizens, they’re also a competitor to Northfield.org. Some of their sites have discussion threads on their stories so in that sense, they’re a competitor to Locally Grown.
Competition is good though, right?
I’ve been looking for examples of a local Patch site collaborating with its local blogosphere. If you spot any, post a comment here with the URL.
Looks like the impending arrival of competition from Patch is starting to change the ‘we don’t link to anyone’ policy of the Northfield News. Here’s a link to Northfield.org:
http://northfieldnews.com/news.php?viewStory=54942
No link to the League of Women Voters at the bottom of a story, tho:
http://northfieldnews.com/news.php?viewStory=54980
I got an email from Janine Iamunno, Sr. Communications Director at Patch’s NYC office who wrote "I was happy to see your piece. We’re looking forward to meeting and working with locals."
I asked her for examples of local blogosphere partnerships. She wrote:
This completely fascinates me. I look forward to seeing what shakes out. Thanks for looking in to it Griff with such thoroughness.
Yes, Griff – glad to know about this and to reread David Brauer’s blogs. Just one more example of how dynamic the field of journalism is!
Of some relevance:
Newspaper Extinction Timeline:
http://rossdawsonblog.com/weblog/archives/2010/10/launch_of_newsp.html
Some MN Patch sites are set to debut this week, according to MinnPost’s David Brauer.
Corey Butler says Northfield will launch, too.
Edina’s Patch is now live: http://edina.patch.com/
Northfield Patch is now live:
http://northfield.patch.com/