Robert Hernandez: November 2010 archive
My imaginary monologue with journalism leaders
November 22, 2010
Attending the Online News Association conference is a must for anyone who wants to see what's what in Web journalism. Great people, great conversations... I had an incredible blast, but one morning I woke up and had to spit out the blog post below.To be honest, this one was more for me.... This is something I've been dealing with nearly my entire Web journalism career. I had to get it out of my system.
I didn't think I'd post it, but I added it to my blog... hoping no one would notice. But a few people did and their reactions encouraged me to own this... so, I'm posting it here.
Please tell me your thoughts and reactions... good and bad:
This morning, I woke up with the monologue I would tell an Executive Editor or Publisher or top decision maker at a news organization if I were ever asked my vision on running a newsroom. More...
2 Comments | 
Archive Link
Patch's editor-in-chief answers all questions, evil or otherwise
November 14, 2010
When it comes to Patch, there have been a lot of opinions and questions about AOL's hyperlocal venture ... besides the "evil" one. In previous posts, I've crowdsourced journos' thoughts on Patch to try to capture the conversations many of us have been having.
For this week's post, I took those concerns – and newly crowdsourced questions – to the man overseeing the direction and growth of Patch: Editor-in-chief Brian Farnham.
I had a long list of questions and asked most of them. Of course, even though we went thirty minutes over our scheduled one-hour interview, there wasn't enough time to ask them all.
But, overall, Farnham addressed the most common questions and criticisms toward Patch, and also expressed his vision for the network.
NOTE: The interview was done using the collaborative document, typewith.me, and you can play back and read the raw, unedited conversation here: http://typewith.me/ep/pad/view/ojrqa02-bfarnham/latest
Let's start with some background and context. Can you tell me a brief history of Patch, how it came about… and then a little about your background.
Sure. Patch came right [out] of the brain of Tim Armstrong actually. He's the CEO of AOL now, but a couple of years ago he was the head of North American ad sales for Google. His big brainstorm, which I won't go into all the details of (he actually addressed this at ONA), was that small communities were really missing out on the kind of comprehensive news and information experience online that people in big cities tend to take for granted.
Can you tell me the current state/size of Patch and the general goal for the hyperlocal venture? How many employees?
Patch is right now 351 live sites strong, with plans to open another couple hundred by the end of the year (which is not far off!) Employee-wise, we have... several hundred. I have to check the actual number. I'm going to say 600+ safely right now, with about 80% of those being editors out in the field. So it's a pretty big organization already, which makes it feel funny to call it a startup, but we call it that because we're truly evolving and growing the idea every day, the way startups do. The goal is to become nothing short of the most useful source of news and information for small communities online. And, I hasten to add, that does NOT mean the ONLY source of information there. We see local media as an ecosystem, and we want to be an active part of it. More...
4 Comments | Archive Link
Journalists 'cautiously pessimistic' about Patch
November 9, 2010
The topic of AOL's Patch has been on journalists' minds before I asked the question at the Online News Association conference in D.C.It has sparked debate and open conversation about whether this hyperlocal venture is part of the future of journalism or a sign of the end.
In keeping with the ongoing dialogue, I asked people to share their experiences and thoughts on Patch, and many of you did.
This post is a collection of tweets, emails and hallway conversations that I think capture the mood of those outside of Patch are feeling.
NOTE: I've be in talks with Patch since last week's blog post trying to figure out the best way to express its point of view. Rather than craft a statement or respond to one or two of these reactions, and due to my deadline, we've opted to do a separate, follow-up post that will be a Q&A with Editor-in-Chief Brian Farnham. While the details are still being worked out, I would like to crowd-source some questions. I will be bringing up the thoughts expressed here, but feel free to send me your questions, thoughts and concerns: r.hernandez [at] usc.edu
Sprinkled throughout the responses was a hopeful, wait-and-see sentiment, but it was overshadowed by a lot of unknowns and questions that have journalists confused.
Corona del Mar Today founder Amy Senk doesn't understand why Patch moved into her community. "It's such a small village, just 6,000 homes, with a daily successful news site (mine), a weekly Newport Beach paper with offices in CdM village, and two legacy papers that cover it," she said in an email.
More...
15 Comments | Archive Link
The question everyone's talking about: Is AOL's Patch evil?
November 1, 2010
Hi, I'm "Evil Man."Well, that's according to All Things Digital's Kara Swisher, who moderated a keynote presentation with America Online's Tim Armstrong and National Public Radio's Vivian Schiller at the Online News Association conference in D.C.
She dubbed me that after I asked a question that, to me, was clearly the elephant in the room.
For months before the conference, there has been a buzz in the journalism industry with people trying to understand AOL's Patch.com, a venture in hyperlocal news.
According to its website, the Patch network is in 14 states, but expects to expand into three more. It's already in more than 300 cities (63 of them in California alone), and plans to add nearly 200 more.
The ISP-turned-content network is putting its money where its virtual mouth is by committing an investment of up to $50 million to this project.
They have hired a ton of people, among them laid-off journalists and recent j-school graduates. It has even partnered up with several universities, including the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.
I know a few of their folks and they rave about their new, exciting job.
But, there are reports painting a less-than-positive side to this network. From claims of plagiarism to descriptions of "sweatshop"-like hours, these reported issues have raised concern.
At a recent Hacks/Hackers meetup in Los Angeles, the topic of Patch came up and there was concern that local, independent bloggers would be killed off. That said, it was also admitted that not enough was known about the venture, but the group would like to explore the concerns.
Still, even while I was at the conference, people were asking each other what they thought of Patch. In fact, there was an unconference session (an impromptu session proposed and voted upon by the conference attendees) that wanted to explore this question.
But by 45 minutes into the talk, it looked like no one was going to ask the question. So I tweeted this out:
And, once I was handed the mic, I did. More...
4 Comments | Archive Link
RSS Feed
