A crowdsourced news site covering Fresno, Calif., was purchased this week by McClatchy Newspapers, which owns the Fresno Bee, representing the latest in a flurry of moves by old media to leverage the new.
FresnoFamous.com started up in 2004 to “catalog, explore and discover life” in Fresno. Its visitors share opinions, news, photos and information. Founder Jarah Euston promises that the site hasn’t given up its independence. Judging by the comments left on the site’s announcement of the acquisition, not everyone is buying it.
Will the Fresno Bee truly allow FresnoFamous its independence, as News Corp. has done with MySpace, or will it find the eyeballs and froth of engagement too enticing?
McClatchy also bought ModestoFamous, and in that combination I think is the genius. The pair provide a template for citizen journalism that I think would work in a lot of cities and communities. Look for Famous sites throughout California.
