Charting a Locally Owned, For-Profit Future For Community News

Posted Tuesday, July 9, 2013 8:26 am

By: Dan Kennedy | Nieman Journalism Lab

For those of a certain age, perusing the ads posted at The Batavian, the for-profit news site in Batavia, New York, can seem a lot like flipping through the pages of a weekly community newspaper a generation or two ago.

Which is to say there are a lot of ads — more than 140, every single one of them on the home page, a practice that publisher Howard Owens believes is more effective than rotating them in and out. There are ads for funeral homes and pizza shops. For accountants and tattoo parlors. For auto repair centers and ice cream stands.

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Charting a Locally Owned, For-Profit Future For Community News

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