Glendale News-Press Editor Dan Evans presided at a February 5 forum in Pasadena on “The Changing Face of Community Journalism” which included the senior regional editor of AOL Patch, the day before AOL announced its acquisition of HuffingtonPost.com.
Timothy Rutt, another invited speaker, expressed skepticism about Patch’s centralized local journalism initiative; his comments coincidentally anticipated AOL journalists’ concerns following the acquisition announcement.
Rutt reported his thoughts on these developments yesterday on his outstanding Altadena Blog. Click on that link! – the post is a thoughtful analysis of corporate news sponsorship v. what’s really news to local stakeholders. Altadena Blog has long been on the Sunroom Desk sidebar of Blogs Beyond City Limits.
Jesus Sanchez also spoke at the forum, and detailed the frustrations of “monetizing” independent community journalism. His Echo Park blog The EastsiderLA is also a regular link on this site.
Ron Kaye, publisher of RonKayeLA.com and new weekly columnist at the Glendale News-Press, had a lot to say during the forum, as Evans raised questions about whether investigative reporting is endangered by shrinking profits, and the impact of consolidations and new technologies on civic engagement.
I didn’t know about this forum. This would definitely have been something to put on the calendar. Sorry I missed it. Thanks, Sunroom, for keeping us apprised and for the links you included. kkz
You are quite welcome. Credit goes to the Los Angeles Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (Dan Evans is on their board), who put this together. KPCC’s Crawford Family Forum supplied the community meeting space.