NEWPORT – As the news media grapples with the digital transition and a simultaneous slide in advertising revenue, the City by the Sea has become an unlikely test market for media organizations both new and traditional.
This summer has seen the debut of two new Newport-focused Web sites. Newport Now (Newport-Now.com) is a blog-style news site, with regular updates on local affairs and culture, along with other features like obituaries, real estate listings, weather forecasts and an events calendar. The other, Newport Seen (NewportSeen.com), is an online social diary.
Rhode Island's Market Has Changed. Developers, Builders, Investors and Sellers Must Change With It.
By Emilio DiSpirito IV License Partner | Engel & Völkers Oceanside Leader | The DiSpirito…
Learn More
Newport Now went live last month. Its parent company, Island Communications Inc., was founded last July by Lynne Tungett, a veteran writer and editor who lives in Middletown. “Our aim is to cover the city like a summer fog,” the site says. “We believe that news should be accessible, government watched over, and life enjoyed.”
Newport Now’s debut follows by a few months the decision by the Newport Daily News, the city’s 163-year-old daily newspaper, to put nearly all of its online content behind a subscription wall in an effort to drive readers to the more-profitable newspaper.
The Daily News’ decision drew national attention as large papers, including The New York Times, contemplate whether to follow a similar path to deal with declining revenue. It also drew criticism from Jim Brady, former executive editor of The Washington Post’s Web site, who wrote on paidContent.org that it “reeks of desperation.”
Newport Now is pitching itself as a free, “up-to-the-minute alternative for news and information” to the Daily News. The startup site also runs a cheeky daily feature called “In Other News” that gives a short rundown of the day’s Daily News stories.
Newport Seen, the other new outlet, does not claim to be in direct competition with the Daily News. The site, which debuted in early June, is modeled after the Palm Beach Daily News, New York Social Diary and other organizations that chronicle the lifestyles of the rich and famous.
The site was created by Linda Phillips, a public relations consultant based in Newport and Darien, Conn., and Thomas Roskelly, a marketing and design consultant who works out of Portsmouth, Valley Forge, Pa., and Murphy, N.C.
“There will be a daily narrative prepared by me and guests, in which the history, scandals, and goings-on in Newport will be reported in a conversational manner,” Phillips, who edits the site, said in a news release. She also emphasized that the advertising on the site is “by invitation only.”
Newport Seen’s owners say they received 23,000 page views in 44 states and 36 countries in their first two months of publishing.
