Next Door Media profiled in NYTimes.com

You can learn more about Next Door Media and Seattle’s competitive blog scene in a story that appeared today in NYTimes.com, PCWorld.com and CIO.com. “Next Door Media’s five Seattle neighborhood blogs are at the forefront of a hyperlocal news boom in Seattle that has grown just as traditional media — including the late Seattle Post Intelligencer — has busted,” wrote Nancy Gohring, who called the Next Door Media site PhinneyWood “a truly local phenomenon.”

Seattle indie news getting national attention

Widely-read by journalists across the country, Poynter.org has published a profile of the quickly-growing independent news scene in Seattle, highlighting Next Door Media. They also published a story on the Seattle Times’ partnership with Next Door Media and several other Seattle news sites, including the West Seattle Blog.

“Seattle has become a hotbed for neighborhood and niche blogs,” said Kathy Best, the Times’ managing editor for digital news and innovation. “As we watched our own newsroom resources shrink, we began talking about how we could tap into that hyper-local community movement to create partnerships that would allow us to continue to offer quality coverage in key areas.”

How a neighborhood site can lead on a big story

A 3-alarm fire raged in the Seattle neighborhood of Greenwood, destroying several businesses in the center of the neighborhood — the same neighborhood where an arsonist has struck four times before. An army of reporters and helicopters from the local media responded to the story.

Next Door Media’s PhinneyWood.com, which covers Greenwood and Phinney Ridge, was on the story soon after firefighters arrived, leading the local media in online coverage. Armed with a still camera, Flip video camera, an iPhone and an avalanche of community tips, PhinneyWood posted up-to-the-minute updates from the scene, compelling photos and video, and personal stories from business owners and neighbors. In the first 24 hours alone, PhinneyWood posted 8 pages of coverage and a steady stream of Tweets. Our editorial partner, SeattleTimes.com, linked PhinneyWood’s coverage throughout the day.

“Phinneywood ROCKS!!!” wrote one neighbor in comments. “What tremendous news coverage! It is just amazing to have such immediate and accurate coverage right as the event is happening, even at this time of the morning.” Wrote another, “You guys are doing the best coverage in town, and you don’t even have newscopters. Be proud.”

Next Door Media’s focus on community-powered journalism, edited by experienced journalists, is a clear differentiator when the big story breaks.

My Ballard readers ask debate question

My Ballard asked its readers what questions they’d ask the mayoral candidates for the KING 5 and Seattle Times debate. My Ballard’s Kate Bergman recorded three questions on camera, and producers picked one question to ask the candidates — about their plans for the “Missing Link” of the Burke Gilman trail in Ballard.

The candidates responded on the air, and My Ballard posted a follow-up online. “(It was) exciting to see my question asked,” said My Ballard reader Elaine.

The promising future of local journalism

Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism released a report today on the future of news, and Next Door Media was included as one of the country’s promising journalism startups. We’re honored to be included, and we agree with the report’s goal to preserve “independent, original, credible reporting.” But we disagree with one of the report’s conclusions that supports a government subsidy of journalism. We believe there’s a promising, profitable future for local journalism through innovation and lots of hard work, as we’re beginning to show with Next Door Media.

Next Door Media in the Business Journal

We were profiled in the Puget Sound Business Journal this week, and we talked about Next Door Media’s early days, our growing advertising presence, and why we’re different than some nascent efforts by corporate media to compete with us. The full article is subscription-only, but you can read the first third of it or so right here.

(Photo from Dan Schlatter, Puget Sound Business Journal.)

Next Door Media wins national journalism award

Next Door Media’s MyBallard.com edged out finalists LA Times and Miami Herald to win a prestigious Online Journalism Award for community collaboration.

“My Ballard is exactly what newspapers are trying to do with hyperlocal content. And these guys do it,” said the judges. “There was no site that fulfills the sense of community collaboration better. It’s the literal definition of the category.”

We’re truly honored, and as we wrote on My Ballard, our neighborhood readers and contributors deserve all the accolades. Next Door Media editors, who live in the neighborhoods we cover, provide a layer of journalism over a thriving community. With the vast majority of stories originating from our neighbors, in many ways editors “moderate” the neighborhood more than we “cover” it.

This award illustrates that local journalism and neighborhood-powered news sites have a promising future, and we’re excited to be a part of it.

Magnolia Voice captures cougar exclusive

It started with a post on Next Door Media site MagnoliaVoice.com explaining that a neighbor reported seeing a cougar in Discovery Park, a popular Seattle park. Over the next few days, more sightings streamed in to Magnolia Voice, and the site created a map to track the reports. Our editorial partners, the Seattle Times picked up the story, and the Department of Fish & Game closed the park and set traps for the cougar. Two days later, officers captured the animal, and Magnolia Voice was first to break the story, complete with photos of the captured cougar.

Here’s the home page from the Seattle Times shortly after the capture featuring a photo from Magnolia Voice. It was amazing to watch the story grow from the community into a big story, attracting nationwide attention and setting all-time traffic records for Magnolia Voice. Thanks, Magnolia!

My Ballard finalist for Online Journalism Award

Next Door Media’s first site, MyBallard.com, is a finalist for a national Online Journalism Award for “community collaboration.” This is a prestigious award, so we’re thrilled, to say the least. We’re up against the LA Times and the Miami Herald for the award, which will be announced in early October.

Next Door Media partners with Seattle Times

We’re excited to announce an editorial partnership with the Seattle Times that encompasses all of Next Door Media’s sites. The partnership originated with a grant by American University’s J-Lab, which aims to explore how established media companies can work together with promising neighborhood news sites.

You may have noticed over the last several weeks that SeattleTimes.com and MyBallard.com have been linking each other on stories, and that’s a component of the partnership. We’ll be exploring other ways to work together in coming weeks and months. Our friends at West Seattle Blog, Capitol Hill Seattle and Rainier Valley Post are also part of the partnership.

We’re very pleased that the Times has chosen to work together with organic, neighborhood-grown news sites instead of creating competing efforts designed to draw advertising dollars away from the neighborhood.