CJR's Guide to Online News Startups

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Feb 24, 2012 12:20 PM
Patch (New Jersey)

AOL's fast-growing hyperlocal network
By Justin Yang
The Patch network's first sites were launched in New Jersey in September of 2009, in the cities of Maplewood, Millburn-Short Hills, and South Orange. Today, Patch operates sites in more than 80 New Jersey communities. New Jersey remains a "petri dish" for Patch to develop business ideas and strategies. In December 2011, Patch merged two sites together after concluding that the...
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Feb 24, 2012 12:28 PM
Patch (New York)

AOL's fast-growing hyperlocal network
By Lauren Kirchner
After the first three Patch sites launched in suburban New Jersey in 2009, an expansion into New York's Westchester County and Long Island communities wasn't far behind that same year. Today, New York is home to seventy-one Patch sites and counting. In addition to Patch's usual suburban targets, the network has also grown to include individual, geographically small but highly populated neighborhoods within the boroughs...
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Feb 24, 2012 12:22 PM
Patch (North Carolina)

AOL's fast-growing hyperlocal network
By Justin Yang
Patch currently has only one site in North Carolina. It serves the community of active duty soldiers, civilians, and Army families stationed at Fort Bragg, which is located north of Fayetteville. The base spreads across four counties and has a population of around 40,000, according to the 2010 U.S. census. The site launched in June 2011. AOL announced the launch of...
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Feb 24, 2012 12:26 PM
Patch (Ohio)

AOL's fast-growing hyperlocal network
By Justin Yang
Patch arrived in Ohio in 2010, launching twenty-four sites. According to a December 2010 story in Crain's Cleveland Business, the first three sites appeared in the Cleveland area, and Jean Dubail, former online editor of Cleveland's Plain Dealer, served as a regional editor during the launch. Read CJR's full profile of the Patch network here. Patch has launched more than 860...
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Feb 24, 2012 12:33 PM
Patch (Pennsylvania)

AOL's fast-growing hyperlocal network
By Lauren Kirchner
In 2010, Patch launched twelve community sites in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley, a densely populated area on the eastern edge of the state formerly propped up by the steel and manufacturing industries, and now making the transition into the tech sector. Since then, the Patch network in Pennsylvania has grown extensively, to fifty-nine sites, and includes large clusters of sites in the suburbs of Philadelphia and...
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Feb 24, 2012 12:45 PM
Patch (Rhode Island)

AOL's fast-growing hyperlocal network
By Justin Yang
Patch came to Rhode Island in October 2010, launching in Newport, Middletown, and Portsmouth after the Newport Daily News ended free access to its website. A month later, Patch launched in eighteen more communities. Read CJR's full profile of the Patch network here. Patch has launched more than 860 sites in twenty-two states...
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Feb 24, 2012 12:43 PM
Patch (South Carolina)

AOL's fast-growing hyperlocal network
By Justin Yang
Patch arrived in South Carolina in June 2011 with an initial launch of four sites serving Charleston-area communities with populations ranging from 15,000 to 100,000 people. There are currently eleven Patch sites in the state. Read CJR's full profile of the Patch network here. Patch has launched more than 860 sites in twenty-two states plus the District of Columbia. For more...
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Mar 1, 2012 01:29 AM
Patch (Virginia)

AOL's fast-growing hyperlocal network
By Justin Yang
The Old Dominion is home to thirty-one Patch sites in all, but the sites are not evenly spread out through the state, geographically speaking. The overwhelming majority of Virginia's Patches are located in the fast-growing, affluent and tech-savvy Washington, D.C. suburban neighborhoods in and around Fairfax County, in the northeast tip of the state. Read CJR's full profile of the Patch network here....
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Feb 24, 2012 12:56 PM
Patch (Washington State)

AOL's fast-growing hyperlocal network
By Justin Yang
Patch launched in Washington state in October 2010, its first site focusing on University Place in Pierce County, near Tacoma. Patch later rolled out a total of fourteen sites in the tech-savvy state, concentrating on the Tacoma and Seattle areas. Read CJR's full profile of the Patch network here. Patch has launched more than 860 sites in twenty-two states...
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Feb 24, 2012 12:59 PM
Patch (Wisconsin)

AOL's fast-growing hyperlocal network
By Lauren Kirchner
The Patch network in Wisconsin consists of sixteen sites, all of which are concentrated around Milwaukee with the exception of Hudson Patch, which is more than 300 miles away, near Minneapolis-St. Paul. Fortunately for Patch, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel announced in late 2011 that it would be putting its website behind a paywall, opening the door for potential traffic...
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Jun 29, 2011 12:03 PM
PatersonPress.com

Hard news meets hyperlocal in Paterson, N.J.
By Arvin Temkar
PATERSON, NEW JERSEY — PatersonPress.com, a hyperlocal news site for Paterson, N.J., brings an old-school mentality to a new era of journalism. Editor Joe Malinconico said that traditional, shoe leather reporting is what makes Paterson Press shine. That's also what won the site two New Jersey Society of Professional Journalists awards only eight months after it launched. Paterson Press launched in October 2010...
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Mar 24, 2011 03:12 PM
Peach Pundit

Conservative local political commentary from the founders of RedState
By Chris Benz
ALPHARETTA, GEORGIA — With its simple design and lively comments section, Peach Pundit resembles many right-leaning political opinion blogs. What may set it apart is its pedigree: Clayton Wagar and Erick Erickson, both among the founders of conservative mega-site RedState, founded Peach Pundit in 2005 as a side project. The site covers Georgia state and local politics with a conversational flair, but,...
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Oct 31, 2011 01:49 PM
Pegasus News

News, entertainment, and local information for the Dallas-Fort Worth area
By Tyler Jones
RICHARDSON, TEXAS — Pegasus News was made to cover an event like the state fair of Texas. Both are large-scale, interactive, and can fry something up for everyone. Over 2.5 million people attend the fair each year, the largest in the country, and from the end of September to the event's conclusion three weeks later, Pegasus News adds a special homepage tab directing...
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Mar 25, 2011 03:05 AM
Philadelphia Neighborhoods

Award-winning student journalism from Temple University
By Daniel Denvir
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA — Philadelphia Neighborhoods is a news website reporting on the city's poor and working class neighborhoods, produced by undergraduate journalism students at Temple University. The site is part of Temple journalism's Multimedia Urban Reporting Lab, which emphasizes two things deemed important for future journalists: hyper-local reporting and the ability to tell stories via text, photos, and video. <ul...
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Dec 29, 2010 04:40 PM
Pitchfork

The prolific online music reviewer/kingmaker
By Sean Gandert
CHICAGO, IL — Founded in 1995 as an Internet alternative to traditional music fanzines, Pitchfork has become a force within the music industry every bit as vital as Rolling Stone or Spin. While somewhat controversial due to its highly opinionated reviews, Pitchfork has a reputation for being able to spot new talent and bring them to a much wider audience. Bands such...
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