On the Restless Currents of Hyperlocal Journalism, EveryBlock Returns as Patch Goes

By: Michael Miner | Chicago Reader

Last February I had this to say about the death of EveryBlock:

Hyperlocal digital journalism is starting to look like one of those corner restaurants that change hands every 18 months because nobody can make them work (even though everyone needs to eat).

I like that metaphor. And to bring us up to date on EveryBlock. Shut down by NBC News because "it wasn't a strategic fit with our growth strategy," it's being given a new lease on life by Comcast, which owns NBC News, which owns MSNBC, which acquired EveryBlock in 2009, two years after it was launched by Adrian Holovaty. Chicago Grid reported recently that it's seen a beta version of the new site, and it looks like the same collection of neighborhood news and data as the old one. (And most new corner restaurants are variations on the old ones.) Chicago Grid said EveryBlock would probably return first to Chicago and then spread to other cities. Its first time around, the site was in 19 cities.