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AOL Launches Local News Websites in Venice & in 3 Valley Neighborhoods
Four neighborhoods this month became the first within Los Angeles city limits to become home for AOL's hyper-local initiative called Patch, which are those community news sites that have been popping this year in surrounding cities like West Hollywood, Calabasas and Redondo Beach.
What's unique about them is that they each carry full time editors, mostly all with a degree or background in journalism (or example, check out the above video featuring Chatsworth's Saul Daniels, who spent 19 years at the LA Times). That means Venice, Chatsworth, Encino and Studio City now all have journalists dedicated to covering the neighborhood issues.
It's yet to be seen the affect of these sites on the community and media landscape -- some wonder if the effort can be economically sustainable -- but as AOL continues to expand its local news coverage of the Los Angeles area, we hope it works. Good coverage of neighborhood council meetings and other neighborhood issues is lacking in Los Angeles, especially in light of small-town scandals, such as in Bell.
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