Local Editors Defend Patch While Conservatives Game Digg, Plus Other News of the Day
– Local editors have come to AOL’s defense, calling Patch the “most flexible and rewarding full-time job I’ve ever had.” This comes a day after a local editor complained that the $40 thousand a year job forced employees to work 70-hour weeks with little leeway for vacation. Multiple Patch editors defended the work environment on Business Insider’s comment boards. Another editor wrote, “I’m all about improving working conditions here, even though my view of Patch is not nearly as dim as your tipster’s. But there were no illusions coming into the gig: it was always going to be a hard slog.”
– A conservative campaign has led to numerous progressive stories to be buried on the social media site Digg. The Digg Patriots, a group of influential conservative Digg members, search for stories on the site submitted by progressive members, and vote the stories down. This essentially makes the story invisible on the site. The group has an impressive level of success, burying around 90 percent of articles submitted by certain users. Can we talk about this media corruption for the next two months, please?
– In June we told you about the hyperlocal blog Freehold InJersey, which partnered with a local coffee shop to produce journalism from the cafe’s tables, using customers to produce stories. Poynter spoke to the site’s editor, and so far it seems like a success. “I have my town regulars who stop in every day and have to update me about what happened in town after I packed up and went home for the night,” said Curry. “It’s this constant, ongoing conversation about the town we’re in. It’s kind of quasi-‘Cheers,’ where everyone knows your name.”
– As if the media industry needed something else to worry about, now companies must look over their shoulders to watch out for location based services, like Foursquare, that want some of the media’s ad dollars. Dave Morgan at Online Spin brings up the concept, and suggests that these services could take 20-25 percent of ad revenue by 2014. It’s not really clear where his numbers come from, but you could certainly see a Foursquare type site hurting hyperlocal initiatives. Grrr, so many worries, so little time.
