Former Exeter Express & Echo editor Marc Astley has unveiled the second of his websites under The Daily franchise.
The Plymouth Daily went live yesterday, joining The Exeter Daily which was set up last October.
The sites have been set up with the aim of creating what Marc called an “army of citizen journalists” who would supply much of the content.
An introductory piece on the new site by Plymouth Daily editor Matthew Vizard described it as “a local, daily newspaper for the digital and social media age.”
Wrote Matthew: “This is a business that will be run for people at the heart of the community. We will endeavour to work in a collaborative way and encourage contributions from our users – individuals, businesses, communitites, organisations – offering a positive outlook on our city and the wider Devon and regional landscape.”
Marc left the Express & Echo at the end of 2011 three months after its then owners Northcliffe Media – now Local World – took it weekly.
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Can I prepare you all for the inevitible and offer a prediction.
Readers of this website will want to know where the money comes from to justify a) your investment and b) ongoing salaries etc.
At a rough estimate I found 0 local ads on the site (other than one advertising the franchise opportunity!!!) and a few generic Google type ads, eg Turkish Airlines!!!!. The pattern is similar on the established Exeter site.
Marc will then say that it’s a robust business model with big players investing etc etc and that we all don’t understand. However he will be reluctant to enlighten us.
If Marc needs a citizen clairvoyant, I’m yer man!!!
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