Yesterday, Brian Farnham announced that he would be stepping down as editor-in-chief of Patch to pursue other start-up ventures, according to his blog post. Farnham, who spent four years at Patch, will be staying on as a member of the Patch advisory board, the post said.
Patch, a network of hyperlocal news websites owned by AOL, launched in 2009 as a platform for local communities, as previously reported. Each Patch site serves a community of 20,000-50,000 people and has a full-time editor, freelancers and bloggers.
Farnharm says in his post that his reasons for leaving are not “negative,” despite recent editorial changes. In February, AOL hired Rachel Fishman Feddersen as chief content officer of Patch, Reuters reported.
Reuters reported, “While Feddersen's role is still being defined, she said she sees her job as crafting a cohesive strategy that takes the elements of what works best locally and weaving those principals into coverage across Patch's network of sites. Essentially, she's looking for a bottom up—not top down—content strategy.”
