TBD hyperlocal site’s traffic pops up during hostage crisis at Discovery Channel’s headquarters
TBD’s new hyperlocal Web site for the D.C. area is no great shakes so far in the visitor count department, but it’s too early to pass judgment. That’s what I wrote last month.
Well, TBD is still a long way from seriously threatening the Washington Post’s local supremacy after just a few weeks, but as you can see from the Alexa chart below, the site enjoyed a major pop in traffic from the hostage crisis at the Discovery Channel’s headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. It peaked at .08 percent or more of the global Net traffic Alexa measured. The previous peak was .02 percent.
TBD pulled out the stops on coverage, and the Post itself was picking up a video feed. The result was what one self-described journalism geek—J grad student Justin Karp—hailed on Twitter as a “CNN/Gulf War moment.”
How many of the new visitors will TBD keep? Once again, the operative words are “too early to say.” Also, please note the limitations of Alexa as a precise measurement tool—I’d love to have stats directly from TBD itself.
You might also enjoy:- TBD D.C.-area news site not a steady riser in early Alexa stats. But let’s wait for the full story
- Georgetown Dish joins TBD blog network: Deju vu angles—in Washington Post’s backyard
- Solomon Scandals hyperlocal series so far: A list for latecomers
- Crisp, lively Web pages from promising new TBD hyperlocal site—but D.C.-oriented lead story is a BIG yawner here in Alexandria, VA
- TBD’s Washington area news startup: Niche blogs wooed—but no signs YET of a hyperlocal nirvana
The decline—and future promise—of investigative journalism
The Solomon Scandals, my D.C. newspaper novel, is solidly rooted in Washington and suburbs.
But could future Jonathan Stones break explosive Washington stories without even leaving hometowns in the hinterlands?
That’s one of the intriguing concepts in a video accompanying Investigative Shortfall—Mary Walton’s generally downbeat article in the American Journalism Review’s September issue. The video itself features Deborah Nelson, a Washington Post and L.A. Times alum now teaching journalism at the University of Maryland.
The bad news is that fewer investigative reporters work for big papers than before, a point that both Nelson and Walton make. The good news is that philanthropies have taken up some of the slack by way of organizations like ProPublica. Beyond that, more and more of the government is online, simplifying the task of detecting irregularities from afar. Geography doesn’t matter as much, Nelson notes even though she is far from sanguine about the present. When the Washington Post exposed Top Secret America, one of the reporters was an intelligence and computer expert named William M. Arkin, who, at least in the past, has tracked the intel establishment from the metropolis of South Pomfret, Vermont.
- Wash. Post killing off domestic news bureaus: D.C. ‘prism’ better than the full story?
- The trash factor: A big reason why newspapers are in trouble? And how can they cope with it?
- TheGeorgetownDish starts up: Hyperlocal newspaper war ahead? Or a friendly buyout?
- The Solomon Scandals novel vs. online gossip about Skyline Towers and the intel community
- Robot reporters crossed with mannequins?
Solomon Scandals hyperlocal series so far: A list for latecomers
Late to the hyperlocal series in the Solomon Scandals blog? In reverse order, here’s a list of key parts.
–How hyperlocal journalism can help big media grow closer to local communities, just posted today.
–TBD D.C.-area news site not a steady riser in early Alexa stats. But let’s wait for the full story.
––Washington Post vs. Patch.com and Examiner.com
–How Washington Post and New York Times could outgun hyperlocal sites like TBD and Baristanet.
–Georgetown Dish joins TBD blog network: Deju vu angles—in Washington Post’s backyard.
–How TBD could use hyperlocal journalism to kick the Washington Post’s butt.
–TBD, meet NYC’s Westside Independent: Role model for SOME neighborhood blog affiliates?
–Washington Post vs. Allbritton’s TBD Web startup plans: BOTH sides could do better.
–‘What Would Google Do’ with my old steeltown newspaper in Lorain, Ohio? Here’s what I’D do.
Please I’ve avoided a formal approach, so you won’t see “Part One” and so on.
You might also enjoy:- Coming: How the Washington Post and New York Times could cope with TBD and other hyperlocal networks
- Georgetown Dish joins TBD blog network: Deju vu angles—in Washington Post’s backyard
- ‘I write like William Shakespeare’: Paste ‘The Solomon Scandals’ into this Web form and see for yourself
- TheGeorgetownDish starts up: Hyperlocal newspaper war ahead? Or a friendly buyout?
- Washington Post vs. Allbritton’s TBD Web startup plans: BOTH sides could do better
How hyperlocal journalism can help big media grow closer to local communities
Update: Other hyperlocal-related posts here.
I killed my Washington Post subscription several years ago, one of millions of Americans to give up on printed newspapers.
My Reason #1 was the trash factor. But many readers have other, less friendly explanations. More than a few trust the press about as much as they do HMOs, banks and big business in general. For some, the local daily might as well be a giant paper Pinocchio. Just this week, a futurist was saying that newspapers would be irrelevant in 12 years, thanks to such practices as Web-based crowd-sourcing. Wish fulfillment for many readers?
Hyperlocal journalism, however, could at least help the Washington Post and other established news organizations regain trust by growing closer to their communities with good, verifiable content and opportunities for readers to speak back. Ideally it could grow revenues, too. In the era of Google News and stories from thousands of sources, all over the planet, why not focus on compelling local stories? Why not encourage neighbors to care about neighbors, not just about distant—in more than one sense of the word—politicians and movie stars? Already flagship newspapers reel in a mere 56 percent of the readerships of certain major metropolitan media companies, perhaps partly reflecting hyperlocal’s growing importance.
But how to do hyperlocal properly and maximize synergies between it and other activities within a newspaper company or broadcasting one, while reducing redundancies? Ahead I’ll share my specific ideas with established news organizations in mind, following up on earlier hyperlocal suggestions for them. My biggest goal for this series is to lay out hyperlocal strategy options for everyone, not favor the giants; and, in fact, The Solomon Scandals novel features a large, colorfully dysfunctional newspaper. The big guys and media monopolies in particular—even and especially in small towns—have their sins, including a fixation in some cases on lucre at the expense of journalistic quality. Gordon Gekko would be proud.
Still, “big” has its glories, too. Well-financed chain papers, for example, with the right people in charge, can better resist neighborhood car dealers enraged by localized stories about safety recalls. That’s not all. Often—it’s hard to generalize—the very best hyperlocal journalism can’t happen for long periods of time on the cheap. And even the most gung-ho of the small-fry stand a good chance of burning out eventually.
I recently sold a small e-book Web site, which, although focused on a topic-related community, not a geo-based one, beset me with many of the challenges described here.
You might also enjoy:- Solomon Scandals hyperlocal series so far: A list for latecomers
- Washington Post vs. Patch.com and Examiner.com
- Hyperlocal journalism: Georgetown publisher robbed—and eager to tell neighbors about it. Lesson for the Washington Post?
- Wash. Post killing off domestic news bureaus: D.C. ‘prism’ better than the full story?
- TBD.com hyperlocal site in D.C. area is live—and my detailed analysis is on the way
‘Journalism warning labels’: Helpful in Assange case?
Check ‘em out. Might this one apply to some commentators’ reaction to the false sex accusations against WikiLeaker Julian Assange?
Via Dan Bloom.
You might also enjoy:- The new question: How did the false rape allegations happen against WikiLeaker? Any governments responsible?
- A few words on tech, ‘screening’ and e-text—and Danny Bloom (1949–2032?)
- Gore sex probe dropped in Oregon: A NONscandal, without sufficient follow-up in the Washington Post and Politico
- Al Gore’s ‘scandal’: Sex attack claims from Oregon masseuse are dodgy so far
- Coming: How the Washington Post and New York Times could cope with TBD and other hyperlocal networks
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