Zollman says that in his interviews with CitySearch staff, they admitted that this was a mistake, because Web users did expect to find news about the tornado on the site. One-time coverage, at least The public's expectation that a local news site will cover major news in its back yard requires that it do something beyond republish wire stories. I would recommend that even for newspaper sites that don't wish to cover local news online on an ongoing basis, consider making an exception when a big story breaks. The cannibalization myth Publishers who continue to resist posting local news content online may still believe the old myth that some local readers will give up their print subscriptions if local news is available online. Anyone who's been involved in Internet news media for a while will laugh at that, but as evidenced by strategies like those in place in Wyoming, there are many who aren't yet convinced that a strong Web site won't hurt them.
Evidence clearly points to the contrary.
They also bring in a modest number of net new print subscriptions, typically, as new people are exposed to the news organization's product. Yes, over time there is the distinct likelihood that an online version of a newspaper could take away print readers. Courting national audience as part of strategy For some local newspaper sites, national-interest local stories help out the bottom line. Because his site serves a tourist destination, it has attracted an increasing amount of national advertising, so the big-story traffic increases boost his ad revenues. The Bellagio casino story even brought in some music sales revenue.