Business
Internet sites have started blanketing the town with press coverage, with a new Web venture backed by a Google Inc. executive battling two locally run Web pages for readers. The New York Times joined the fray this month with a Maplewood blog. Their prize: online ads from local companies — the fastest- growing source of revenue for the news business.
Maplewood is a testing ground for so-called hyperlocal sites, which provide a tighter focus on neighborhood news and businesses. The showdown — one of the first post-newspaper newspaper wars — is a boon for Dan Richer, a pizza-parlor owner in the town of 23,000 outside New York City.
“All of them interviewed me,” said Richer, 28, who runs Arturos on Maplewood Avenue, the towns main street. “Isnt that great?”
More local content means Web sites can sell more local ads. That category of advertising will grow 5.3 percent to $7.1 billion this year, said Kip Cassino, research director at Borrell Associates Inc. in Williamsburg, Virginia. Thats what drew the New York Times blog and Patch Media, the startup backed by Google Senior Vice President Tim Armstrong.
National Slowdown
“Demand for local Web ads is rising while the market for national advertising is receding,” Cassino said.
This four-way fight over Maplewood is beginning even as newspapers wither. Denvers Rocky Mountain News closed Feb. 27, and Hearst Corp. has threatened to shut down the San Francisco Chronicle if the paper doesnt cut enough jobs. That would make San Francisco the largest U.S. city with no major paper.
Maplewoods local daily, the Star-Ledger of Newark, reduced its editorial staff by 40 percent last year using buyouts, a bid to stay in business. Thats limited its coverage of Maplewood.
The Ledger didnt write a story when the towns mayor quit in December, said Joe Strupp, who covers newspapers for Editor & Publisher and lives in Maplewood. He got angry and started the Maplewoodian, a blog to cover local politics.
Political corruption has plagued New Jersey for decades, with one scandal forcing the governor to resign in 2004. Former U.S. attorney Chris Christie says he successfully prosecuted more than 125 state and local politicians.
“If New Jersey government isnt covered, that worries me,” said Tina Kelley, a New York Times metro reporter who runs the papers Maplewood site. “New Jersey government has a history of needing to be watched.”
Patch Media has ambitions beyond Maplewood. The New York- based company plans to open dozens of local sites this year. It started with Maplewood, along with nearby Millburn and South Orange, because the towns have high incomes, downtown shopping districts and Web-literate professionals, said Chief Executive Officer Jon Brod.
Patchs strategy is to hire a reporter for each town and then bombard the community with business listings, sports scores and local news.
The New York Times site, which began covering Maplewood on March 2, is a blog run by Kelley and several interns. Its soliciting posts from other local bloggers who want to reach the Times audience, she said.
Wait and See
The Local, the Times local-blog network, also is covering parts of Brooklyn and areas near Maplewood. The paper is waiting to see how these initial efforts work before expanding, spokeswoman Diane McNulty said.
On Maplewood Avenue, businesses are basking in the newfound attention. Words Bookstore owner Jonah Zimiles got heavy coverage for a recent reading by former New York Governor Mario Cuomo. He was even invited to blog for the Times. Maggee Miggins, who owns a realty office near Arturos, got an interview with Patch.
Kelley, a co-winner of the Pulitzer Prize, is betting her career on helping the Times transition to a new era. To generate local interest, shes publishing police-blotter items and hitting up her second-graders art teacher for drawings to post online.