E-Media Tidbits

From GetLocalNews.com, editor Ari Soglin e-mails me to say that the citizen-journalism enterprise wants to be acquired (all or in part). He says: "A buyer or investor will get access to 5,000 valuable local (U.S.) domains, our companion topic network (AFreePress.com), software, and experienced management -- all much sooner and at lower cost than a system built from the ground up."

"Citizen journalism" is a hot concept right now, of course, thanks to South Korea's successful OhMyNews, Dan Gillmor's book, We the Media, and some start-ups like Mark Potts' Backfence.com. GetLocalNews.com pre-dates all of those, but it never really got traction (despite its flagship site, BeniciaNews.com, winning an Online Journalism Award in 2002).

Soglin says an acquisition by a media company would give it a potential head-start in citizen journalism. He envisions forming partnerships to make GetLocalNews' many U.S. local sites the "citizen journalism arms of local and regional newspapers, radio stations, or TV stations nationwide. ... We think we have an answer for existing mainstream media sites whose publishers may be worried about diluting the established brand. Our partners can run citizen journalism sites as separate publications or partially integrated with existing sites."

He continues: "We offer a way to fight off challenges from Craigslist and other free classifieds ventures."

Soglin says GetLocalNews.com is accepting offers through March 25. (Contact CEO Edgar Canon.)