Sorry meant to write commoditization not comodization (or turning out content in the commode).

I believe that there’s a direct correlation between the comodization of certain news and the lack of appreciation in its value. That’s why I’m so bullish on investigative and public interest journalism! Organizations – be they for-profit or nonprofit – that can super serve a community or vertical (such as the health industry example below) [...]

Also, a key point for nonprofit publishers specifically is understanding the nuanced implications of the differences between advertising and underwriting as the IRS see it. Simply put, any promise of performance – i.e. x number of click throughs or impressions, is advertising and MAY be considered by the IRS as unrelated business income. Display space [...]

I agree with Rusty on this completely. And I am not suggesting that sites – especially hyper local sites not pursue advertising for this very reason. What I DO think that publishers need to be aware of is a) that there are a number of well financed competitors that are fighting for local advertising dollars [...]

That doesn’t surprise me. But as more and more local businesses are being approached by the Groupon and Patch’s of the world, they are going to expect demonstrable and measurable results. Click throughs are a first step on the way toward a more sophisticated view of the local advertising market for a lot of small [...]