Q&A: An extended interview with Alan Bedenko, Buffalo Pundit
You’re a specific example of someone who has been doing a popular local news site for awhile now. How have you seen things change, and have things changed in a good way?
The most successful local new media competitor to an entrenched news outlet is probably the Batavian. Originally set up as part of a nationwide conglomerate, it is now owned and operated by Howard Owens, who wears many hats over there. He’s a reporter, a photojournalist, an editor, and a sales guy. The Batavian provided online news about Genesee County before anyone else did, and the Batavia Daily News has played a wicked game of catch-up.
The Batavian is unique in that it requires commentors to use their real names, thus reducing flamewars and the easy attacks that come along with anonymity. It has broken stories, provided hyperlocal news coverage, and generally fills in gaps that the news daily left wide open.
As far as change is concerned, every day more people get online and are exposed to the coverage, debates, and opinions that go beyond what we in WNY have previously been accustomed to—the Buffalo News, talk radio. This helps to bring about change and expand discussions beyond what corporate or entrenched interests want to talk about. For instance, Kevin Gaughan’s town board downsizing plan has gained momentum thanks to its use of both new and old media.
Twitter brings the news directly to people in real time, depending on whom you follow. I’ll also add that the fact that everyone and their brother is on Facebook has made it a very effective and easy way for people to organize, inform, and invite.
Chris and Marc talked a bit about the contentious relationship with BRO, specifically the cease and desist. What is your opinion of what’s gone on here? And what do you think of BRO, the News blogs, etc.?
From what I can gather, that contentiousness has more or less evaporated. I was a fan of BRO’s at its birth, but was always troubled with what I considered its too-narrow definition of what was “hyperlocal.” I also think that stories that are part of a paid advertising package should be disclosed as such.
The cease and desist was a laughable strong-arm tactic, but in my mind it’s ancient history. What ticked us off so was that it was (a) legally unsupportable; and (b) threatened to put us out of business before we even really got off the ground.
(It arose out of a non-compete clause in a contract that BRO executed with a former contractor. WNYMedia was not a contracting party to that agreement, so the whole thing could not be unenforced against us. Frankly, as written the clause was legally unenforceable even against the contractor who signed it. All we wanted was a logo and a website. BRO, which prides itself on supporting local businesses, fired off a missive threatening to sue us out of business on non-existent legal grounds.)
That’s left a bad taste in our mouths to this day. Frankly, competition is healthy and you don’t always have to get along with everybody. But that rancor has essentially died down—BRO does what it does, we do what we do; we criticize or collaborate as appropriate.
I seldom read the News blogs with the exception of Jim Heaney’s Outrages and Insights. He seems to be the one in that newsroom who really understands what a blog’s purpose can be in relation to traditional media. He is outspoken, funny, offers up information that a casual blogger can’t know, but a professional reporter can. He’s also provided raw data to his readers to enable them to do a bit of crowdsourcing.
I very much dislike the idea of the Buffalo News letting people comment on news stories. Some of those threads get very inappropriate very fast, and it raises all kinds of questions concerning moderating comments and openness.
As a writer for both print and online, what does having a blog allow you to do? Talk a bit about the immediacy.
When I write a restaurant review for Spree, sometimes I have to cross my fingers that the place will still exist by the time my review hits the magazine. Obviously, when I blog I am unconstrained by production issues or editorial oversight. I can spout off in an instant about whatever nonsense I want. Blogging though has become long-form opinionating for me. I will post a few items in the morning and maybe in the evening, and that’s it. When I find stuff during the day, I can whip out my phone and Tweet it in less time than it takes me to open a can of soda. That has become my primary way to keep track of what’s going on during the day. With Twitter, the immediacy of blogs has become even more immediate. Plus, it promotes brevity.
Tonight, we’ll be live-blogging and doing video of primary night as a team. Election nights are the most fun for me, because it’s one of the few times during the year where it’s a collaborative, in-person social effort rather than a solo endeavor.
Tell me about your thoughts on the local online future. How will it grow, and what are some of your specific ideas?
That’s really hard to say. Twitter has really become more and more popular in town, as has Facebook. To a certain degree, blogging is dead already. Not a lot of people do it locally that much anymore—at least not the way it existed say, five years ago where you had a few independent political bloggers, a few independent personal bloggers, and a smattering of sports blogs. Now, we have a WNYMedia portal providing what we hope to be even more seamless integration between print (Artvoice), radio (WECK), and our online pontificating. Tweeting fills in the blanks during the day. Facebook lets us spread the word and get out invitations to our occasional events.
I’m not the big picture guy, though. As long as I get to keep doing what I’m doing without anyone really bothering me about it, I’m happy.
