Who is your competition? It’s probably been changing a lot over the past few years. In the age of new media, of course, your “enemies” could actually help you (and thus become “frenemies”).
That’s the thinking behind the Networked Journalism Project funded by J-Lab in 2009. Last week at the ASNE conference in Washington, D.C., three of the five participating newspapers presented their progress thus far.
The project’s leader, J-Lab executive director Jan Schaffer, framed it as a one-year experiment for newspapers to partner with hyperlocal news sources. The Knight Foundation grant that made it possible funded a part-time project manager and also provided $5,000 to each participating newspaper. Schaffer called it “thanks for trying” money.
So far, the partnerships seem to be working at driving audience from the newspaper sites to the local bloggers. The Seattle Times, for example, started with 5 local partners and now has 19 neighborhood sites and three topical sites participating. In return, the newspaper sites are able to offer more deep local coverage on their own sites. The trick will be to turn that additional content into revenue and share it with the partners.
Miami appears to have the most aggressive approach. Its corporate parent, McClatchy Co., tweaked its content management system to allow the partners to publish directly into the Herald’s CMS. Hirsch said the company has also brought in training for the local partners on selling advertising and hired a consultant to help develop a cookbook and sell hyperlocal advertising.
“We’re really encouraged,” Hirsch said about the advertising.
You can watch the presentation below and view the slides from Rick Hirsch of the Miami Herald, Bob Payne of the Seattle Times and Steve Gunn of the Charlotte Observer. (Asheville and Tuscon are the other two participants but did not appear at the conference.)
Schaffer is hoping to get more Knight money to get this in coming years. If that happens, she will be looking for more newspapers to join the project. She also authored an extensive report on networked journalism in Philadelphia that provides even more insight into this evolving model.
