Josh Fenton is co-founder of the news website GoLocalProv.com.
PBN: Tell me about GoLocalProv.
Rhode Island's Market Has Changed. Developers, Builders, Investors and Sellers Must Change With It.
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FENTON: Paul Krasinski and I started looking at the changing landscape of media a couple of years ago. It was becoming apparent that once-dominant media companies like newspapers and 6 o’clock news broadcasts were really not relevant to huge blocks of consumers. Few people under 45 years of age have any significant relationship with the daily paper, and they rarely watch local news.
Simultaneously, these same consumers seek information, are online constantly and want to be informed and engaged. They are social. They are mobile. We believe that our platform can morph to the needs of the users.
The business model of daily papers seems antiquated and according to the smartest folks, the model is not sustainable. Warren Buffett has said he won’t invest in newspapers anymore because the model is not sustainable.
Some of the sites that served as reference points for us were Politico and The Huffington Post. These were important influencers not for their design, but for their business models. Politico took on The Washington Post on their home turf – politics in Washington – and changed the landscape.
Similarly, Huffington Post has become a meeting place for ideas – not just a one-perspective blog. Unlike Huffington, we won’t scrape other people’s content. Also, no AP stories and no New York Times stories from last week.
Our goal is to create high-value local content that people value. We talk about it endlessly: content is king.
PBN: Where did the idea come from?
FENTON: Two things are happening – folks want to connect. They want to share information about everything from great restaurants in Providence to what is the weather – in their community. Rhode Island is a big community.
The second motivator was sparked by the realization that newspapers and local television are literally selling the same product in the same format at a higher cost to an ever-smaller audience. We want to create a true community collaboration.
PBN: How did you go about putting the site together? What were the challenges? How long did it take?
FENTON: We have been at it for more than two years, recruiting the team and programming for about a year. We have met every Friday morning at 7:30 a.m. for about a year.
We believe we have the best collection of talent in Rhode Island – everyone from John Ghiorse to Scott Cordischi to Tracey Minkin. With more than 50 contributors, we believe we have the most dynamic collection of voices.
The challenge is there is no playbook; no one has really created a digital platform like this. There will be issues, we will learn, and we will make some mistakes. But wouldn’t it be great if there were a successful media company that grew from scratch in Rhode Island?
PBN: Your debut got a mixed initial review from Hard Deadlines blogger John McDaid, a big supporter of hyperlocal media. He praised your initial stories and roster of contributors, but called the site’s design “a user interface disaster.” How do you respond?
FENTON: I think he praised our content and raised some good issues, and we jumped right on them right away. We are not a stagnant organization – we are designed to be ever changing – to our users, to our advertisers and to thoughtful critics. You will see advancements and expansions all the time.
Also, John posted an update after we responded to his review and made some fixes. That “responsiveness makes me a little ashamed of how harsh the review was,” he said, and he recommended that people check us out.
PBN: What’s next for the site? Do you have a long-term plan or goal in mind?
FENTON: We will be always be adding enhancements – today we offer flash ratings, a real-time Ghiorse factor, and soon you will see original content series.
If you have seen the site, you may have seen unique content like On the Couch – one-on-one interviews with provocative Rhode Islanders (Gordon Fox, Ann Hood) and an elegant ongoing photo series called “One in a Million” that tells the story of Rhode Islanders – one at a time. •
Thanks for taking this on, Josh. Rhode Islanders, especially younger ones used to alternative media delivery channels, need what you’re providing and it’s good to know that the leadership qualities you absorbed in the Leadership RI Kappa Class of 1990 are still hard at work 20 years later.