"Your Town" sections on boston.com

[masswich.livejournal.com]

With the demise of the City weekly, Somerville's news coverage is at risk of being greatly diminished, particularly on the regional level. There are sections on boston.com for various cities, though right now they are mostly Metrowest ones. Apparently you can request they create a "Your Town" page for any city, and if they get enough requests they might do it. Much of the coverage on those pages is just culled from the existing paper, but it does appear that having a "Your Town" page does increase the number of local stories that boston.com does.

You can request a "Your Town" Somerville page by emailing them at yourtown@boston.com. A sample Your Town page is at:

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/newton/

Comments

[ron_newman]

Starting tomorrow, Somerville is supposed to be part of Globe North, which is published Thursdays and Sundays. I don't expect much from this, since GlobeNorth covers about 100 hundred towns and cities, some of which are in New Hampshire.

We'll share it with Medford, but not with Arlington (which gets Globe West instead) or Cambridge (which was not assigned to any new regional zone at all).

[masswich.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't expect much Somerville coverage from Globe North, if the current Globe West and Globe Northwest sections are any indication. I think its probably more productive to seek an on-line page, which in turn might produce stories that would end up in Globe North. They just need to know that people in Somerville want new coverage (and will also read ads!)

[ron_newman]

oops, I meant to write either 100 or hundred but not both! Too late to fix that now.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Eh, come May it's probably a moot point.

[ron_newman]

what happens in May?

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

The New York Times Co. has its annual meeting.

The NYT is pretty close to dead itself. Advertising is dropping like a rock, they're a billion dollars in debt, their cash reserves are $46 million as of October, and their options are looking increasingly desperate (there's a good article on it here: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200901/new-york-times).

So, the Globe, which is losing a million dollars a week? They want it off the books in case they have to sell themselves.

[masswich.livejournal.com]

The paper edition may very well go away in the next year or two. My personal opinion is that there will continue to be a weekly print edition on Sundays but either nothing on weekdays or a very short "Metro" style edition. But I think boston.com will last, and they may even end up charging for a "premium" version of it.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Boston.com will still be around, but I'm not sure the Times leadership can face up to the idea that the physical paper is dying out.

[ron_newman]

Doesn't the Sulzberger family still own a large majority interest in the NYTco? No minority stockholder is going to force them to do something at the meeting that they don't want to do.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

You forget, the Sulzbergers live off their Times dividend. I agree that they have a hard time making difficult choices, but there's nothing like a threat to the pocketbook to focus the mind.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

How dare they make all these cuts without even giving me a way to PAY for a subscription without having the dead-tree edition littering my door step/recycling bin.

[ron_newman]

I was thinking of posting a Rupert Murdoch buys and merges Globe, Herald story on Universal Hub, but Adam Gaffin said he'd rather report on other people's April Fool hoaxes than originate his own.

[fefie.livejournal.com]

I'd rather have City Weekly back than YourTown Somerville. Won't YourTown Somerville be sort of like the online Somerville Journal (WickedLocal)?

I emailed one of the City Weekly editors last Fri after hearing him on that RadioBoston show about the future of local news reporting (on paper, online). He said their immediate plans are to roll out more suburban YourTown sites, then eventually they'll consider Cambridge or Somerville.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

After all, why cater to the area that has the most people? :::rolls eyes:::

[masswich.livejournal.com]

I think it will be like the online Somerville Journal, just as Newton has the online Newton Tab and the YourTown page. More coverage is better than less, as long as its good reporting.

[ron_newman]

Of course, the Globe will now have to do more work and not just grab content wholesale from the nearest GateHouse paper.

[fefie.livejournal.com]

Because they want to cater to readership with the most money, I guess, attractive to advertisers. (Though one would think Cambridge would fall in that category.)

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

It depends on what you're advertising. Unless you're some snooty luxury brand, pretty much, regardless of what you're selling, the more eyes on your ad, the better, regardless of who they belong to.

[ron_newman]

And parts of Boston for that matter - South End, Back Bay, Beacon Hill, some of the North End

Globe coverage

[david-dahl.livejournal.com]

Hi everyone. I'm the editor of the Globe's regional sections, including Globe North. Ron Newman urged me to post here to explain our plans for Somerville.
As you know, Somerville will now be covered by Globe North. We had a Somerville story on the cover of Globe North Thursday.
Danielle Dreilinger, who covered Somerville for City Weekly, wrote the story that appeared in North Thursday. I'm sure she would be happy to hear from you if you have story ideas.
We have more Somerville based stories to come to come. And you also probably saw the page one story about local congressman Michael Capuano.
Obviously, our approach will be different than it was when Somerville was covered by City Weekly. But I assure you that we remain passionate about local coverage. I will be happy to hear constructive suggestions from you about our coverage of Somerville and other communities. You can reach me at dahl@globe.com
Thanks for your interest and your comments about City Weekly and the Globe.