Ken Doctor: Patch Reporters’ Stories Lack ‘Depth, Background, Nuance’

This morning we came across a post from Ken Doctor saying that while it’s cool that hundreds of journalists are getting jobs with the AOL-owned hyperlocal news startup, the stories aren’t quite as good as the competition.

“On Thursday, San Ramon saw a big breaking news story, of a 24-year-old menacing police outside a 7-11. They shot and killed him, after a standoff. Take a look at the coverage and you can see that the Contra Costa Times’ story has more depth, background and nuance. Patch’s story is straightforward, but lacking in those same qualities. That quick comparison may be typical for how a newspaper responds to the big, breaking story …”

Of course, Patch’s story has more comments and better SEO. So obviously the scrappy guys are doing something right.

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