Today’s links 06/08/2012

• In the Netherlands, a Patch-like hyperlocal network is making money and nearing profit » Nieman Journalism Lab

  tags: journalism netherlands hyperlocal network profit

  • The Dichtbij model relies on close(r) relationships between journalists and sales people — something that raises the hackles of traditional journalists. A team of four “entrepreneurial journalists” collaborates with the advertising side across all the sites on generating commercially driven content. The result is stories like this one on Silly Bandz, which was paid by the local shop that introduced them to the Netherlands, or this one, a first-person piece from a student giving advice on how to cut expenses and paid for by a bank. (The sponsorship is disclosed in the last paragraph of the story.)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.