I'm a little late in posting about this, but I wanted to make sure that everyone saw Fiona Morgan's excellent report published by the New America Foundation about the Triangle's media (released in September).
Fiona used to be a staff writer for The Independent Weekly, and frequently covered new and emerging media as well as the on-going demise of the old media dinosaurs, so she had a head start when she set out to explore and evaluate the state of our information ecosystem. I recommend reading the entire report - it's 45 pages, not including references (download the PDF) but here's her summarized conclusion:
While the Triangle has weathered the economic downturn better than much of the country, cutbacks at the region's major newspaper have led to shrinking coverage of suburban and small-town communities just as the population of those communities continues to grow. As a result, the number of boots on the ground providing accountability coverage of the dozens of local government bodies, regional planning issues and impact of state government politics on local communities has diminished.
Digital media outlets proliferate in the Triangle, though they mostly reach affluent and niche audiences that are highly educated and already comfortable with technology. Startup media organizations, even in traditional formats such as print, find greatest success when they focus on one city or local community. The consistent production of high-quality, substantive content is the greatest challenge for nonprofit and for-profit ventures alike. The role of public media, broadly defined, is thwarted by a variety of poor policies.
If it can harness its local talent, channel creative civic energy, straighten out policies hindering public media and extend the resources available to traditional media outlets outside the traditional newsroom, the Triangle is poised to develop a media ecology strong in its diversity.
- http://mediapolicy.newamerica.net/publications/policy/the_research_triangle_north_carolina
I was proud that OrangePolitics was included in the section on Neighborhood and Political Blogs (see page 15). As she was researching this Fiona and I had an interesting conversation about OP including the perennial questions of advertising and anonymous comments. While I would quibble with a few statements in her report, I think Fiona did an excellent job and I hope more people will read and respond to this important report
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