The End Of EveryBlock

NBC pulled the plug on its EveryBlock site today, though the network’s digital chief suggested not to read too deeply into the move’s tea leaves.

“The decision to shut down the site was difficult, but in the end, we didn’t see a strategic fit for EveryBlock within the portfolio,” said Vivian Schiller, senior VP and chief digital officer for NBC News, via e-mail. “This has no bearing on the NBC Owned station strategy. Those sites are strong, and growing under [President of NBC O&Os] Valeri Staab’s leadership. It’s a very different model.”

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Founded by Adrian Holovaty, EveryBlock launched in 2007 with a $1.1 million grant from the Knight News Challenge. It was acquired by msnbc.com in 2009 and then came under NBC News’ aegis last year. Holovaty left the company last August.

At its closing, EveryBlock covered 19 different cities.

In notifying readers of the site’s closure on its blog, editors suggested a struggle to find profitability. “Within the world of neighborhood news there’s an exciting pace of innovation yet increasing challenges to build a profitable business,” the brief post read.

But one hyperlocal news leader suggested that other dynamics were EveryBlock’s undoing. Dylan Smith, the editor and publisher of the independent Tucson Sentinel and chair of the Local Independent Online New Publishers group, said the biggest problem had more to do with EveryBlock’s approach.

“Local news should be reported by local journalists working for local news organizations,” Smith said. “I believe the aphorism ‘local doesn’t scale’ is as readily apparent in the case of EveryBlock as it is with AOL’s Patch. No matter how well they might work in one location, the cookie-cutter, top-down templated play can’t be widely replicated in every market.

“Central planning works even less well for the news industry than it did for Soviet agriculture.”

Smith did concede one lasting legacy EveryBlock leaves for digital journalism, however. “Certainly the judicious application of technology can assist journalists at all levels, and the code behind EveryBlock was an important experiment in gathering data at the local level.”

via netnewscheck.com