I’ve squabbled with people over domains and publication names, of projects and story titles.
There was a moment of inaction in creating the technology news site for Philadelphia that I am now proud to say continues to take on readership and bring on partners. Technically Philly certainly isn’t descriptive on its own and makes for a [...]

When you’re launching a business or a brand, a check for domain availability has to be part of the brainstorming.
I worked with Shannon McDonald to launch a hyperlocal news site for Northeast Philadelphia. Initially in late 2008, she wanted the product to be the Web presence of a print product she wanted to call NEast [...]

I’ve decided to step away from self-employment.
I’ve spent the last year of my life freelancing, by some accounts, at perhaps the worst time to do so in my life and arguably the worst time in the history of journalism.
After a meeting of the most influential media leaders in the region made clear no drastic foundational [...]

*Updated @ 9:36 a.m. 12/23/09 **Much thanks to Jess Durkin for others.

I don’t think anyone’s arguing that a big portion of the future of news will be this hyperlocal movement that continues to dominate the conversation and has grown in focus for many years.
So, I’m surprised to say I haven’t been able to find is [...]

It’s about finding the right mix.
I’m working with a couple, following many and thinking about a great number more hyperlocal, niche and other online-only news sites in this country of ours.
I talk a lot about where content comes from in a healthy, efficient news-gathering entity today or in the near future.
Whether it proves untenable or [...]

News-gathering can be profitable — there are oodles of examples of them. The challenge is taking those dollars to create the most efficiently-produced local journalism.
The big solution and sure trend of the future is fostering a community that covers itself.

The Quick Take

Citizen journalism is a transitional phrase that will soon be as dated as ‘horseless [...]

With an Oct. 15 deadline looming, I’ve had my hand in two submissions requesting funds from the Knight Foundation’s News Challenge program.
One I wrote in conjunction with Shannon McDonald, requesting $40,000 to launch a Neighborhood Correspondents program for NEast Philly, a hyperlocal news site for Northeast Philadelphia.
The second was a proposal from the three of [...]

For more than eight months, NEast Philly, the online hub for Northeast Philadelphia news I introduced back in May, grew to a small, but targeted, 6,000 monthly page views, housed on a free template from Wordpress.com.
Finally we have broken free. Yesterday we launched the brand new redesign of our neighborhood news site for the future.
No [...]

Last night was the city controller debate held by Northeast Philadelphia community news startup NEastPhilly.com and NPR affiliate WHYY.
I fully intend on updating this post with lessons learned, but for now, I’d like to just share some of the coverage.

Full Mp3 of City Controller Debate
Video of NEastPhilly/WHYY City Controller Debate
WHYY video clip, words on contentious [...]