I Gotta Ask....

[Michael Deneen]

....its been a few weeks since they dismissed their local contact, so why is the Lakewood Patch website still up?

It appears to be a random collection of national stuff and items from Cleveland.com

Is AOL's business strategy to have a bunch of hollow sites with local names but just national and regional news?

[John Palmer]

Actually, I think it is. My experience in and with the media tells me so. Just like in radio (my previous career) when money got tight or the industry started to shrink, local content was eliminated and 'boilerplate' national content was inserted. They could produce one program and air it on 50 or 100 stations, instead of paying for 50 or 100 programs/talent. Why do you think I'm now an Arborist.

Media is shifting and shrinking and this is the result, I'm afraid.

[Edward Favre]

Just like the Plain Dealer.

[Jim O'Bryan]

Mike

It is my understanding they are still honoring advertising commitments. Plus, anyone can
afford a website, $5 a month is hardly a cost. It probably would cost AOL more to take
it off the grid then leave it up.

BUT...

Actually,

It was a perfect storm scenario, that is much more complicated than the Plain Dealer.

You have to go back to their business plan, to see many of the biggest mistakes that were made and you have to have a pretty open business mind to see the glaring holes. Let's not forget we are talking about AOL, that had 80% of the internet dial-up market, they blew it, then acquired the Time Warner businesses they ran into the ground, then bet everything on their "WalMart of Hyper Local Journalism" business plan, which included hiring people from outside the community to run what they purposely misled the public about, that they were local, when in effect all they did was have a local reporter.

So they came in with their millions, hiring "local" editors that were supposed to help AOL in confusing the public that they were locally owned and run, when they were neither. Then as outlined on page 16 of the business plan published by Business Insider, "Run all local websites and bloggers out of business or acquire them, THEN ONLY COVER NEWS YOU CAN MONETIZE." Which is what earned them the title "WalMart of Hyper Local News."

Then they started to pay for stories, and photographers. A friend of mine who was a photographer at the Plain Dealer and lived in Cleveland Heights was often hired to come over and shoot photos in Lakewood. His pay went from $200 a day, to $25 a shoot, then less, then he stopped coming.

Which meant as laid offs went into effect and budgets were slashed as early as month 5, that the local editor had to talk people into working for FREE for the company that had paid them a salary, and saw them spending more time in coffee shops searching for news on other sites, than actually on the streets, though they hit the streets too.

Eventually Editors, proof readers, everything was cut, and it was the editor doing everything. This part is very much like the Plain Dealer, and TV news where now often the reporter sets up the camera, films themselves, and takes it back and edits it. It is an unsustainable business model. Working people to death has never been a good business plan.

However back at AOL, the man who brought "Patch" to them was made CEO, and he was not giving up his million dollar gig to admit he was wrong on hundreds of levels. So the cost of the project rose from $153 million lost the first year to $767 million by the end of the Midwest version of the project. Again the underlying concept from day one was to OWN hyper-local content, and control the news, because everything happens on a hyper local level at some point.

Patch is not gone, they just remained where they made money, and could monetize the news. In other words, and one of the faults from day one, THEY NEVER CARED ABOUT THE COMMUNITIES THEY SERVED, JUST WHAT THEY COULD SUCK OUT AND TAKE. This is why I always enjoyed the same people that would preach BUY LOCAL, SUSTAINABILITY, would be so eager to support "The WalMart of Hyper Local News" nothing more than Rubes being played by a corporation that had failed at everything else they had done. But then most of the Buy Local preachers can be seen at WalMart, Home Depot, private schools outside of Lakewood, etc.

The biggest difference  between the PD and Patch was that the PD could have been and could still be successful quite easily. Patch never really had a chance, especially since they started to cut pay and increase workload. Plus the Plain Dealer was never so bold as to put into any business plan ever, "run locals out of business, then only cover what we can monetize."

The reason it remains is to honor contracts with advertisers, and to get the last seconds and pennies out of the Rubes, just like the games are the last thing to be packed up when the carnival moves on.

Patch got their boost in Lakewood from local groups that had been busted by the Observer and would no longer come on the Deck, mostly from embarrassment, though they would say, "wackos,"  negativity(towards them), and the fact that real Lakewood people with real names asking anything has more credibility than fake names asking serious questions. Go back and take a look through the archives, and it becomes obvious.  Civic Leaders walk away from the discussion, when they have been caught in lies, scams, mistruths, and BS. No one likes to be busted.

My advice to Colin, when we met before Patch started, was if he started with those people he could build a base,  that would use Patch for getting "their truth" out. Because they could not stand up to the light of day in an open honest discussion. (One popular misconception was that Colin and I never talked, shared notes or met, we did often. Colin was always pretty much straight up with me, though he did pull some stunts which were to be expected, trying to hire our ad sales people away, trying to get our advertisers to
switch. Our advertisers are very dedicated to this project and what it brings to a community for that I am very thankful, they get it.)

In Lakewood there are now many "Lakewood sites." Most built with hatred for Lakewood, or some part of Lakewood, though they hide it. Patch was built with Greed, to take money out, the Lakewood Observer was built from love, respect, and the need for a sustainable open place to share news, and discuss the city OPENLY with one seat for whoever cares to come and sit and discuss.

Funny how many people hate the idea, that we are all equal. That we all owe our city--our community-- a couple of minutes a day in an effort to make the city better for all.

Well those are my Observations.

.

[Michael Deneen]

"Contractual obligation to advertisers" is a logical explanation.

[marklingm]

Patch got their boost in Lakewood from local groups that had been busted by the Observer and would no longer come on the Deck, mostly from embarrassment, though they would say, "wackos,"  negativity (towards them), and the fact that real Lakewood people with real names asking anything has more credibility than fake names asking serious questions. Go back and take a look through the archives, and it becomes obvious.  Civic Leaders walk away from the discussion, when they have been caught in lies, scams, mistruths, and BS. No one likes to be busted.

***

Funny how many people hate the idea, that we are all equal. That we all owe our city--our community-- a couple of minutes a day in an effort to make the city better for all.

Well those are my Observations.

Well said, Jim!





I couldn't have said it better.

But, I'm not sure which is worse:

The fact that there are so many people who hate the idea that we are all equal.

Or that fact that there are so many people who continue to put "so many people who hate the idea that we are all equal" on pedestals.

Matt