Contests: Why I love local

January 27, 2008

Why I love local

There's an essay making its way around the mediati that sums up much of the root of tension in newsrooms today . In it, Will Bunch, a Philadelphia journalist whom I've met and respect, notes that the renewed focus on local in the Internet age is a blow to journos who saw covering local businesses and school board meetings as a weighstation and now find themselves doomed to "cover local news for life, with no chance of parole."

It's this very attitude that makes Journalists as responsible for the decline of The American Newspaper as the beancounters and bigwigs who are usually fingered as the enemy. It's why we've found relatively few Traditional Journalists to be part of our team.

Yeah, Minnie Payne may not win a Pulitzer for interviewing every major elected official in every local municipality (thereby creating an environment for conversation on those officials in the comments). The expansion of a "gay-owned furniture store" may not turn around the alleged national recession. But I maintain that both have a greater effect on your daily life than Obama's win in South Carolina and even Britney Spears' latest meltdown.

That's why we have the clock wall at the entrance to our office . It reminds us what's important -- Or more importantly, WHERE is important.

That's why I cringe a little when our local news crosses over with national issues. There's nothing I prize more than the conversation on our comment boards . But, occasionally , they make me a bit tense and a little embarrassed -- almost always when they devolve into black-white, left-right, liberal-conservative arguments on national issues.

Maybe it's just me, but I find that there are so few people who understand (or are willing to admit to) the nuances and gray areas on The Big National Issues, that those discussions generally devolve into been-there, done-that rehashings of The Two Sides. Sides that at their root, may not be so different:

But when you look at local, it's less partisan, more economic, and frankly, more colorful. In the see-everything society that is evolving today, it's harder and harder for the rascals to get away with much on a national scale. But locally, while the window is narrowing, it's still there. And to be a smidge Capra-esque, it's your neighbors that "do most of the working and paying and living and dying" that impacts you. And it's those thousands of micro-slices that make up the macro pie you can learn about with unprecedented ease in The Digital Age.

As we sweat to turn this media experiment into a successful business, it's a tough slog, no doubt. But I'm encouraged when I see evidence that thinking local has a real, sustainable impact: A recent study shows that cities with impactful "buy local" campaigns are more recession-resistant. Forgive the hubris, but I'll measure our long-term impact by our ability to improve the local economy. And that's why I'm happy to run what some dismiss as "soft" business profiles. The open comments can keep the storytellers honest, while finding a way to showcase interesting local businesses.

There is a sync-up in mission between our content and advertising on the local level. Where we can have meaningful discussions on small-town ISDs , we can also host meaningful conversations about local businesses in a way that we never could for more national, commoditized enterprises. And in a more mercenary view, we still spend > 90% of our dollars within 50 miles of our homes.

That's why I'm an unabashed lover of local, wherever local may be. And while I applaud Bunch's suggestion of more Pulitzers for local, I think that the ability to impact the community where you work and pay and live and die is a prize in and of itself. I also think that it's really difficult to judge local journalism from outside a community.

So, if local is a sentence, lock me up and throw away the key.

JW Richard, verified:

Well said/Said well.

4 years, 3 months ago
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Scott Doyle, verified:

Don't worry Mike, I'm embarrassed about quite a few comments I've made on Pegasus. However, I don't regret them (well, the ones I created while sober). Methinks genuine feedback/discussion is invaluable; you may disagree.

There is a sync-up in mission between our content and advertising on the local level.

I'm interested in the advertising bit, in that I have no idea what you're referencing. I honestly don't recall seeing many advertisements outside of what's intertwined in the content. Maybe that's by design, but I didn't think about it until now. I do recall <a href="http://www.pegasusnews.com/places/pearl/">Pearl</a>, only b/c I've been there. Obviously it's none of my damn business how you go about it, but considering I'm one of the more active commenting users as of late - just thought I'd throw that out there.

Honestly, I first came to Pegasus b/c of the drink specials feature, and I'm betting the various searches (drink special, event, garage/estate sales, etc) are what's most attractive to potential new users. So, my question is whether y'all advertise the site itself other than word of mouth...and if so, are those searches specifically mentioned?

From where I'm sitting, people won't understand the benefit of a local site until it affects them irl...and considering people tend to take new things at face value, they'd probably need their life to be impacted from the get-go in order to stick around and utilize things like The Daily You. I doubt I'd have even held interest had I not been digging through the drink specials. TG's Best Bites, estate sales search, and occasional event search are the things that have helped me get more involved locally in the past 6 months.

Only other thing I'd like to offer in this amazingly long comment is in regards to the daily me =p. From what I understand, it prioritizes content in respective fields (Metro, Business, etc) that I tend to care about...wondering why the fields themselves don't change in priority when I visit the site? i.e. Living bumps above Sports if I frequent it much more? Can't emphasize enough the importance of what I see right away when I hit the site, b/c I get bored quickly (spent 20 mins away from work to read and respond b/c I got bored doing that).

No disrespect intended, simply giving feedback. I dig the site and would love to see y'all sustain life as a successful bidness. Hope it helps.

4 years, 3 months ago
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luniz, anonymous:

it's not like Jim Schutze is covering traffic accidents and elementary school "news". It's like this guy is saying nothing worth covering happens between New York and LA...

4 years, 3 months ago
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Scott Doyle, verified:

It occurs to me that <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865">AdBlock </a> is the culprit for why content is the only time I feel like I'm being advertised to:

the filter subscription will block most advertisements fully automatically.

Good to know it works, I guess - something to think about. =p

4 years, 3 months ago
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Pavel Lishin, verified:

You can disable AdBlock for specific sites, I believe. If you choose to do so. I don't have it installed, but my brain ignores advertising automatically, unless it's a Flash ad that makes noise or scrolls across the screen blocking content.

I'm sure I'll never see anything like that on PegasusNews, but even if I did, I'd only see it once.

4 years, 3 months ago
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Scott Doyle, verified:

I'm sure Mike's considering an IP ban, so I'll wait until that decision is made before I bother.

For the record, I'll happily turn it off for Pegasus so long as I don't see any ads about pills that will solve the ED problem I don't have. Since the idea is local advertising tailored for Doyle, I'll try it out.

4 years, 3 months ago
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Mike Orren, verified:

Not ignoring this discussion, but requires longer and thoughtier respone than I can bang out now... Maybe tonight...

4 years, 3 months ago
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Rawlins, anonymous:

A specific reason why 'Local' is refreshingly relevant to me is that Dallas always historically had a self-identification complex. Meaning that for the first 40 years I lived here, Dallas patterned itself as a faux Eastern outpost. Whereas in the last 15 years, Dallas has become more of (as I call it) L.A. East. For better or worse.

The reason I mention all this is to emphasize why the local nature of Pegasus is both retro and futuristic and very trend-driven 'now'. Even in the DMNews, I less and less see national stories as lead headlines front page as much as something related locally.

This is also why, as we've discussed ad nauseum, we need to be mindful of our posted PN comments when they are relative to a tragedy. That tragedy is indeed something that happened to your neighbors. And your neighbors and/or their relatives and friends are reading PN. And your comments become arrows to or through their heart.

Bottom Line: Pegasus News is part of what was once small town America. A soon to be once-upon-a-time when the Net was Young.

4 years, 3 months ago
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Billusa99, anonymous:

I block all ads with my Hosts file. Sorry kids, it's what's written that counts for me. So, you are important.

Now, about that clock wall. There is no friggin' way in hell that Flower Mound is on the same 21st Century, CST as the rest of this area. IJS.

4 years, 3 months ago
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knucklehead12, anonymous:

Flower Mound or Farmers Branch?

4 years, 3 months ago
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Mike Orren, verified:

BTW, this post put me in mind of one of my favorite movie clips. (NSFW audio):

That's how I would respond to someone who told me I just "lost my chance to cover the world."

4 years, 3 months ago
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Scott Miller, verified:

Mike, what movie was that?

It was pretty good- but not quite enough to wash the memory of a recent viewing of "Jack Frost" from my mind.

4 years, 3 months ago
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Mike Orren, verified:

The Paper:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110771/

It's one of my six top media movies:

http://blog.pegasusnews.com/2004/10/n...

4 years, 3 months ago
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Billusa99, anonymous:

Chad... great catch. I was hallucinating on hard work and bad coffee and simply F'ed up!

But, then again, any place that claims to have, as a tourist attraction, a world class golf course that mirrors the 18 toughest holes in golf in the U.S. certainly can't be viewed as copacetic, or even normal.

4 years, 3 months ago
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jtmbls, anonymous:

A very moving piece Mike. It makes me want to move from Anonymous to Verified!!

I just found your site recently and already have you on my favorites list. (And not just for the drink specials!:-)) So, where do you find your non-traditional journalists, just out of curiosity? Your name seems so familiar…Where were you before Pegasus?

4 years, 3 months ago
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Mike Orren, verified:

Welcome, jtmbls!:

Glad you're enjoying! PLEASE tell all your friends. :-)

Most of our early staff were folks who had studied journalism in school and/or had looked for and not found jobs in Traditional Media yet. Like Sean Connery suggests in the untouchables -- when you're worried about a rotten apple, don't go to the barrel. Go to the tree.

As we got some cash, we have added a couple folks with background in daily newspapers or broadcasting, but I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that they were rebels among their peers.

Our best source of staffers has been active users of the site who got involved enough to inquire at the right time.

Me before Pegasus:

Texas Lawyer / American Lawyer Media
My own little consulting company and harebrained attempt to recreate Texas Monthly in the Carolinas
D Magazine
Marcoa Publishing (Chamber of commerce pubs)
Village Media (NC)
Duke Student Publishing

4 years, 3 months ago
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Mike Orren, verified:

@Scott Doyle:

Sorry for slow answers -- busy week 'round here...

*"From what I understand, it prioritizes content in respective fields (Metro, Business, etc) that I tend to care about...wondering why the fields themselves don't change in priority when I visit the site? i.e. Living bumps above Sports if I frequent it much more?"*

Something we considered early on and may try at some point. The counterarguments to my recollection were:

Harder to program and we have to pick our shots
Might confuse less-net-savvy users. And there are lots of studies that argue for always having everything in the same place.

@ All of you with ad block, that's interesting feedback. Data suggests you're still a minority online, but a growing one.

That's one of the main reasons for the Daily You. The idea is that as ad-blocking grows, if you're getting value out of our services, you won't mind the occasional pushed message from us, so long as we've got good reason (beyond just you being local) that it is relevant to you.

There's a concept that I read a lot about when writing our bizplan: <a href="http://www.buzzmachine.com/archives/2004_12_24.html#008726">"Every ad a wanted ad."</a> It's a goal that we're not likely to ever achieve, but one that we try to get closer to every day. Long road still to hoe, but early results leave me optimistic.

4 years, 3 months ago
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Scott Doyle, verified:

Much appreciate the response, Mike. I know you're a busy guy.

My current Daily You is listed as follows:

Metro
Business
Sports
Schools
Living

Considering that's the sequence of things in the header, seems that's predetermined. I'd much prefer Living above Sports & Schools, and something like Movies or Dining instead of Schools.

So, maybe there's a happy medium in allowing people to customize the fields used in their Daily You? I hear ya on consistency, but it doesn't seem very Scott Doyle to not have a say in what fields I've got in front of me with every visit. I obviously have no clue how feasible and time-consuming for the tech-whizzes that is, just my 2¢.

In response to the publisher-driven advertising, obviously I care enough about not seeing ads that I actively sought a way to block them. Although, when I first signed up for a Gmail account, I do recall thinking to myself it was relatively cool to see snowboarding ads when I was in the market. So, I'm on board with the idea (no pun intended)...to an extent.

If anything, I figure allowing people to choose what fields are in front of them daily would help y'all shove advertising down their throat that they might actually care about. Since I know it heats your balls, I'll happily acknowledge your PDA and figure out how to un-adblock Peg. =p

4 years, 3 months ago
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jtmbls, anonymous:

Very interesting. My research shows that you were involved in the initial relaunch of D when it was purchased by Glenn Solomon in the early 90s? I was working for one of his business partners at the time. So, either that is where I recall your name from or I am a really big fan of your work...Or both.

Love the site...Telling everyone I know!

4 years, 3 months ago
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Mike Orren, verified:

Yup-- I joined D on the third issue after the relaunch. Did you work for Blake?

4 years, 3 months ago
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jtmbls, anonymous:

No, actually, on the real estate side for Andrew Segal.

4 years, 3 months ago
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Scott Doyle, verified:

Just FYI, for peeps who use Firefox and have the Adblock Plus add-on, <a href="http://adblockplus.org/en/faq_basics#disable">here's instruction</a> on how to make page exceptions (promised you I'd figure it out Miko, albeit a couple of weeks late). There's a handy tutorial behind the link "Show me how this is done".

Basically: <ol> <li>If you don't have Adblock in your toolbar (I didn't), you first need to choose "Show in toolbar" from Adblock's Options.</li> <li>Be sure you're on <a href="http://www.pegasusnews.com/">PegNews.com</a>.</li> <li>From the toolbar, click the arrow on the right of the ABP icon and select one of the following: <ul> <li>Disable on www.pegasusnews.com (allows ads on all PegNews pages); or</li> <li>Disable on this page only (ads would only be displayed on the homepage).</li> </ul> </li></ol>

Example:

<img src="http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/7054/72bq8.png"> <br> <br> I personally chose to disable AdBlock on all pages b/c I'm interested in seeing just how much it'll affect my Pegnewsin'.

For the record, that's my first-ever attempt at making an html list (much less nested). Looked fine in the comment preview, so if it's botched up...I'm sure a PegNews tech-whiz will <a href="http://www.pegasusnews.com/blogs/powerusers/2008/jan/07/tech/">help a Doyle out</a>.

Speaking of, needs more <a href="http://www.pegasusnews.com/blogs/powerusers/">Power Users</a> posts.

4 years, 3 months ago
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