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Jim Brady, who has been hired to create a local Washington, D.C., news site for the company that owns Politico, says he has a clear idea of what he wants his new venture to be: replicable, digital and with a web-only focus. Brady, a former web editor for the Washington Post and most recently a consultant for Guardian America, spoke to paidContent about his plans for the site (which currently has no name).
According to a memo from Robert Allbritton, who heads Allbritton Communications, the parent of Politico, the new online DC news project will include a merger of the company’s two area TV station sites — WJLA.com and News8.net. The site expects to have a staff of roughly 50 people, separate from the TV stations’ employees.
paidContent: How did you decide to work on a local start-up focused on DC after working on the wider-looking Guardian America?
Jim Brady: It was always a six-month contract and it
Gee, another local product led by a highly experienced **editorial** talent. Didn't Sidewalk do that 13 years ago hiring former Post, LA Times, Atlanta Journal Constitution folks, etc. Jim is a top drawer talent but it's already been proven dozens of time that quality people can create quality content and people will view it on the web. Just as in newspapers when all the innovation was on the editorial side, we are doing the same thing with web-only offerings (i.e., no revenue innovation).
When one of these local ventures launches with a true **business/revenue** innovator at the top, I'm going to sit up and take notice. The revenue innovation is pathetic in the local arena. These guys are controversial but look at Glam. They at least are trying some new things. We need a Glam for local. Some player with similar innovation…rather than doing the tired old display ad model.
These local ventures aren't much different than dotcoms where they would say "we'll build an audience and then figure out how to monetize it later". That's ok if you are the next google or twitter but I don't see how any investor would go down that same path. How about starting with the revenue model? Building quality content and traffic has been proven it can be done in 100's of places all over the web. Building a sustainable revenue model in local is a different story.
And who the hell cares what the name of it is? Lack of revenue innovation will result in the same story. That name is "bankrupt".
Believe me, we are trying…
There's got to be a way we can get the scoop of what this new site will be called.