On Monday night, Tina Kelley of The Local, Joe Strupp of maplewoodian.com, Jamie Ross of maplewoodonline and Mary Mann (that' s me) of Maplewood Patch met at the Main Library to discuss the onslaught of hyperlocal online news media in Maplewood. Tim Mullaney of Bloomberg.com moderated.

Contrary to some speculation, no wrestling broke out, physically or metaphorically. 

The discussion was polite. Even complimentary. But spirited. 

Mullaney opened by saying that, of course, the hyperlocal revolution had descended on Maplewood. He noted that, within a short radius of his home, he can find editors and writers from Bloomberg News and Reuters, plus Jim Cramer's producer and Charles Barkley's agent. Said Mullaney, it's the inverse of the old adage about New York: "If it doesn't make it here, it won't make it anywhere."

Each media representative on the panel spoke of their launch dates. Ross was first by far, launching in 1997 after a door-to-door campaign to get out the word and sell ads. He was between jobs at the time, but now MOL is his full-time job, with 30,000 unique visits per month.

The Maplewoodian started on December 31, 2008, said Joe Strupp, in response to what he felt was insufficient coverage in the News-Record and invisible coverage in the Star-Ledger of former mayor Ken Pettis' resignation. Patch launched in three towns (Maplewood, Millburn and South Orange) on February 4, 2009.

I explained that Patch is a venture by former Google executive Tim Armstrong (now CEO of AOL) to create a viable business model for hyperlocal online news media. Patch already has expanded to 12 towns in NJ and CT and plans to have 30 sites by the end of the year.  

The New York Times' endeavor in hyperlocal online media, The Local, launched on March 2. Kelley said this was the Times' effort to provide the best coverage of local news with her as editor deploying a gathering of "citizen journalists." The Times is testing to see if the model is viable.

Questions from the audience centered on the business models for each, as well as how to ensure quality journalism from citizen journalists. 

Ross said he had a working business model, capable of supporting one or two employees. This includes ad sales as well as web design and website hosting.

Kelley said that The Times is committed to keeping The Local going indefinitely but noted that there were still no ad sales on the blog. She did not know when that might happen. (Update: The Local posted it first full-size local ad last night.)

Strupp said he has some ads but that his blog was a labor of love that he tended in addition to his day job reporting on the print newspaper industry.

I explained that Patch is selling banner ads and classifieds but also had the opportunity for other advertising platforms due to its relationship with AOL. I pointed out, however, that I am on the editorial side of the aisle and do not have intimate knowledge of the Patch business plan.

Kelley explained The New York Times process for fact-checking and editing. We talked about attracting freelancers and journalists. The Local has had success due to the cachet of The New York Times. Patch has been able to attract freelancers by paying them as it builds a local reputation.

At one point, the audience and the panel applauded Jamie Ross for being the hyperlocal pioneer in Maplewood. Although some felt that discussions on MOL could get nasty, there was general consensus that the posters ultimately corrected misinformation or balanced out the commentary. I noted that MOL commenters are rather refined as compared to those on nj.com.

In the end, everyone was hoping for a model that helped to preserve professional journalism as print newspapers continue to struggle. Kelley noted the relationship between journalism and civic involvement. "When newspaper circulation goes down, voting rates go down." She wondered how the spate of online coverage would affect Maplewood's next local election.

Thanks to Joanne Beckerich, head of adult programming and publicity for Maplewood Memorial Library, for organizing the event.