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It seems to me that Patch beats a local paper any day. The argument that making a paper hyper local somehow saves it from having to compete with the Internet j
by lukejduncan 14y ago
It seems to me that Patch beats a local paper any day. The argument that making a paper hyper local somehow saves it from having to compete with the Internet just seems off to me.
- loumf 14y agoI just took a quick look at Patch and it looked like very superficial robo-generated news from public sources (police blotter, HS sports schedule, stock photography). It doesn't look very readable. Here's an article that puts words around a calendar http://chelmsford.patch.com/articles/softball-team-to-face-newton-in-miaa-tournament http://chelmsford.patch.com/articles/softball-team-to-face-n... This article is probably just auto-generated for town (it's about the view of Venus we are getting right now). http://chelmsford.patch.com/articles/chelmsford-look-up-venus-is-in-transit http://chelmsford.patch.com/articles/chelmsford-look-up-venu... There are some articles better than these, but not much -- perhaps it's better for other towns. Here's what a hyperlocal newspaper looks like: http://www.mydailyrecord.com http://www.mydailyrecord.com Real names and faces of people the residents know. The articles aren't Pulitzer prize winning, but they're not just autogenerated. You can't compete with auto-generated on price, but it doesn't seem hard to write better articles.
- meatsock 14y agopatch isn't entirely auto-generated, there are reporters and editors working for them
- loumf 14y agoI'm sure -- I clicked around randomly and my impression was that the articles were generic and auto-generated. Sadly, it might be able to compete with what passes for local news some places, but my local paper is much better. The key to local news is local names and faces -- stock photography and localized generic news isn't going to cut it.