They were mostly home-grown and developed independently. A few were developed with strong support from nando.net and most now have some dependence on nando for content or development support. Many McClatchy sites, including ours, stand alone as business units within their newspapers. Often they are run jointly by news and marketing departments. The reasons have mostly to do with differences in culture, technology and organization.
Users approach and interact with each medium differently.
Because of that, online and print prepare and present information differently. The inviolable wall between news and advertising at most newspapers is regarded as an impediment by Web designers. In the cyberworld, a user wants to move effortlessly from, say, a restaurant review to a menu to ordering takeout. And advertisers want their ads to pop up next to related copy. Such thinking, considered essential in the entrepreneurial online world, would be scandalous at most newspapers.