Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Md Troopers Assoc #20 & Westminster Md Fire Dept Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Showing posts with label Media Baltimore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Media Baltimore. Show all posts

Sunday, October 17, 2010

AOL’s Patch, a national chain of news websites, comes to the Baltimore ‘burbs

AOL’s Patch, a national chain of news websites, comes to the Baltimore ‘burbs

Will mass-producing community journalism like Big Macs slay it or save it? (A two-part Baltimore Brew special report.)


patch map and logo
AOL is sinking nearly $50 million into Patch, a network of local news websites, including some in Baltimore suburbs.



Baltimore is used to having out-of-town companies gobble up its home-grown news operations. The ranks of the  once- independent-and family-owned that are now media properties include The Baltimore Sun(Chicago-based Tribune Co.) and WJZ-TV (one of 28 stations owned by CBS Corp.)
But the latest deep-pocketed corporate ‘playa to muscle into the Baltimore media market, AOL, is taking a different approach. Rather than acquiring an existing entity, they’re quietly building online news operations from the ground up, in Towson and in two dozen other suburban Maryland communities. What they’re creating they callPatch.com, a national network of “hyperlocal” news sites aiming to fill the prodigious news holes created by shrinking traditional media.
In addition to TowsonPatch, there’s a Lutherville/TimoniumPatch andEllicottCityPatch, among the Maryland sites either scheduled or already publishing. Patches have also sprouted in affluent communities in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey and a growing list of other states...
[...]
Utopia? Dystopia?
Bryan Sears is the immediate past president of the Maryland Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and a well-known local political reporter in the Greater Baltimore area.
At points in a discussion about Patch, Sears seemed excited by the idea that a ripple effect from the chain’s rapid expansion could actually benefit journalists in search of jobs.
“There are media companies taking this very seriously. What happens if they [Patch] ramp up and put a lot of reporters in the area, and The [Baltimore] Sun or [Washington] Post decides it needs to respond in kind?” Sears said.  “All of a sudden you’ve got yourself a 21st century newspaper war.”
At other moments, he has a reporter’s skepticism that Patch, or any company, has figured out a cure for what’s afflicting America’s Fourth Estate.
“There are two questions as I see it.  One, it’s AOL, the same company that had Bebo, the social networking site that no one ever heard of.  Have they learned from that?” Sears said.  “Two, do they have some magic ju-ju that makes these Patch sites work that the others didn’t?”
In the end, Sears said, he welcomes the arrival of the Patch sites, even though they technically compete for readers with his paper.
“I’m excited about journalists getting good jobs and enjoying the work they’re doing,” he said, “and I refuse to believe that having more reporters on the beat is anything but good for the public.”
And, he added, “I plan on beating them as often as I can.”
[...]


Media Baltimore Brew, Journalists Sears-Bryan, Media Baltimore, Media, 
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Bryan Sears at Baltimore County Politics

Until Bryan Sears takes up shop in his new digs with Patch, follow him here on his website: Baltimore County PoliticsAll Baltimore County politics all the time, or at least for the next several days…  http://baltimorecountypolitics.wordpress.com/


About Me


Bryan P. Sears
Sears

I’m a life-long resident of Baltimore County and have a passion for covering local politics and government. I grew up in Middle River and Perry Hall and now live in Towson.
For the last nine years I covered the Old Courthouse for the Towson Times. Starting on Oct. 25 I’ll do so for Patch.com.
Over the years I’ve won regional and national awards for breaking news coverage, local and state government reporting and investigative reporting.
I’m also a political contributor on the Maryland Morning News program on Thursdays on WBAL 1090 AM as well as a frequent guest on many of the  station’s shows, a co-host on Jay Liner’s “All Politics is Local” show on WCBM 680 AM, and have appeared on State Circle on Maryland Public Television.
When I’m not doing any of that I like to hike with my golden retriever and play video games with my son.
Occasionally,  I sleep.


Bryan Sears at Baltimore County Politics
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