BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) — A reminder to all of our readers, and anyone in the growing population of news seekers who can’t believe that the Sun Sentinel and the Palm Beach Post are now charging for web-based content: We’re free. And we actually cover local news.
While the Palm Beach Post and Sun Sentinel are in the process of erecting a paywall and attempting to cover national news, BocaNewsNow.com continues to blaze local trails at no charge to our readers. And we’re not covering fluff. Our stories name names, list events and provide information. We realize that our mission is to cover what’s happening here at home. Sponsor support has been incredible, as local merchants realize the value in targeting readers who live in the community.
If you hail from a big city, think of us like like NewsRadio. Great stations like 1010WINS in New York, KYW in Philadelphia or KNX in Los Angeles. But we’re in print. We’re not going to waste your time with the dumb stuff. If we update three times a day, we’re updating three times a day with stories that may impact your life. We’re not going to bore you with stories, for instance, about Boca divorcees trying out for a reality television show.
We know you have better things to do.
While no one will dispute the significance of an event like the bombing at the Boston Marathon, it is inexplicable that the Sun Sentinel and Palm Beach Post both devoted significant amounts of space, and likely resources, to covering it. Remember, these papers are in such dire straits that they’re charging for online access, and still barraging readers with ads.
When national stories are on the front page, think about what local news isn’t being covered.
South Floridians know it isn’t 1985. Readers know to turn to the websites of NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, DrudgeReport, HuffingtonPost, and local sites like those of the Boston Globe and Boston Herald to see what’s happening where news is happening. No one needs a local newspaper in Fort Lauderdale or West Palm Beach to use local resources on a national story.
And consider this: If editors and publishers believe that there is enough of a Boston population in South Florida to merit major coverage, they should also understand that local Bostonians will do what they would have done in Boston: tune to WBZ Radio via a smartphone for the very latest. Not a local newspaper thousands of miles away.
BocaNewsNow.com predicts that the paywall will fail for both the Palm Beach Post and the Sun Sentinel. Readers will pay for the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, but we believe it is unlikely that the paywall will generate enough revenue for either the Sentinel or Post to offset negative publicity and consumer reaction. The Sun Sentinel — part of the Tribune company — is for sale, and rumored to be on the must-have list of the libertarian Koch Brothers. It is unclear if the paywall would be a help — or hindrance — to such a sale.
Regardless, BocaNewsNow.com is free. We won’t cover everything. We don’t want to. But we absolutely won’t charge you to read our hyper-local news. And we won’t report information that’s best reported by another organization in another place. But you know this. You read us because we cover local news and we are based right here.
A novel idea for a local news organization.
LOCAL JOURNALISM SUPPORTER.
