US: Watchdog sites creating better outlet for news?
Posted by Rosemary D'Amour on November 18, 2008 at 1:53 PM
In San Diego, a website has arisen that monitors and illuminates some of the city's "darkest secrets," acting as a watchdog for the community, and forcing its more traditional competitors, namely, newspapers, to follow up.
VoiceofSanDiego.org offers "serious, original reporting by professional journalists." The cost of production is much less than a mainstream news organization.
Similar websites have been launched in New Haven, the Twin Cities, Seattle, St. Louis and Chicago since the San Diego's voice began in 2005.
"Their news coverage and hard-digging investigative reporting stand out in an Internet landscape long dominated by partisan commentary, gossip, vitriol and citizen journalism posted by unpaid amateurs," the New York Times writes.
Current news companies are facing sinking statistics, losing staff and readers. The "fledgling movement" created by VoiceofSanDiego.org has actually gained readers, reaching a "sufficient critical mass" that it's time to regulate it, founders think.
They plan to form an association that can gain "national advertising and foundation grants" that they would be unable to get without teaming up. The benefits in credibility for the website are also evident.
Online-only publications operate at "half the cost of a comparable printed paper," and yet the revenue obtained from online advertising isn't enough to sustain a newsroom, the New York Times reports. Financially, the nonprofit VoiceofSanDiego is more like public broadcasting than a news organization.
The sustainability of such a site, functioning basically on "charity," is questionable, experts say, as even the most "well-funded" of the watchdog sites don't come close in resources to a major newspaper.
Staffs of such sites are small, with comparably small hits each month to local newspaper websites. They have a "complex" relationship with traditional media, but the basis for their creation is to keep traditional media in line, a function that the industry needs.
Source: New York Times
Similar websites have been launched in New Haven, the Twin Cities, Seattle, St. Louis and Chicago since the San Diego's voice began in 2005.
"Their news coverage and hard-digging investigative reporting stand out in an Internet landscape long dominated by partisan commentary, gossip, vitriol and citizen journalism posted by unpaid amateurs," the New York Times writes.
Current news companies are facing sinking statistics, losing staff and readers. The "fledgling movement" created by VoiceofSanDiego.org has actually gained readers, reaching a "sufficient critical mass" that it's time to regulate it, founders think.
They plan to form an association that can gain "national advertising and foundation grants" that they would be unable to get without teaming up. The benefits in credibility for the website are also evident.
Online-only publications operate at "half the cost of a comparable printed paper," and yet the revenue obtained from online advertising isn't enough to sustain a newsroom, the New York Times reports. Financially, the nonprofit VoiceofSanDiego is more like public broadcasting than a news organization.
The sustainability of such a site, functioning basically on "charity," is questionable, experts say, as even the most "well-funded" of the watchdog sites don't come close in resources to a major newspaper.
Staffs of such sites are small, with comparably small hits each month to local newspaper websites. They have a "complex" relationship with traditional media, but the basis for their creation is to keep traditional media in line, a function that the industry needs.
Source: New York Times
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