You do have some advertisers, but does that pay the rent, your salaries, health care, etc? Really, how can great journalism (In depth journalism) be had for free? What is the Times paying you for this service? Yes, great exposure, but really you can just read it on the Times site.

I come with a huge bias as I am an unemployed journalist and still licking my wounds. Myballard is one of the best, if not the best Hyperlocal News sites in the country. With that said, who is paying the bills? There seem to be a lot of you on foot and you cover each and every single event in many neighborhoods. Where do you find the time? Again, you all will go to your graves having done a super thing in this world with these sites, but again, who is paying the bills?

Best regards,

Rick Lewon

You do have some advertisers, but does that pay the rent, your salaries, health care, etc? Really, how can great journalism (In depth journalism) be had for free? What is the Times paying you for this service? Yes, great exposure, but really you can just read it on the Times site.

I come with a huge bias as I am an unemployed journalist and still licking my wounds. Myballard is one of the best, if not the best Hyperlocal News sites in the country. With that said, who is paying the bills? There seem to be a lot of you on foot and you cover each and every single event in many neighborhoods. Where do you find the time? Again, you all will go to your graves having done a super thing in this world with these sites, but again, who is paying the bills?

Best regards,

Rick Lewon

Hey, I think it's great they can find suckers willing to work for free to help their business. More power to MyBallard!

I am not worried that the new partnership will bring unforeseen changes to My Ballard (but that would be a great hope), but more that the negative aspect of My Ballard would be carried over.

The Times has essentially gutted its reporting staff, so I can see how it's helped by having neighborhood web sites do the local newsgathering legwork. At least the press release is honest in its depiction of the situation as “linking to and promoting stories on partner sites when it may help fill coverage holes”.

But outside of bringing more exposure and thus more business to our local sponsors (which is a very good thing), how exactly does this alliance help MyBallard? I mean, the Geeky Swedes have beaten The Times to the punch on a number of important local stories in the recent past so, from a strictly editorial perspective, I too am wondering what we're gaining from this new partnership.

I understand developments like this are part of “progress” and probably are important to the bottom line, but, darn, it's a shame.

As far as MyBallard having links to Seattle Times stories I can't imagine that the Times would have any stories about Ballard that wouldn't have already been covered here in more depth and breadth and a day or two earlier.

Here's an example,: I read the Times every day too (news junkie) and when I saw that story about cupcake royal on their site I immediately clicked the link to MyBallard and read about it here, without looking at their story at all.

That said, there is definitely an economic incentive for the Swedes, that is unless they aren't going to charge more for ads when the page hits triple or quadruple on the stories that the Times links to.

MyBallard is just cheep news for Seattle Times.

I am certain I am not alone in thinking that our “posters, witnesses, bloggers, etc.” can hold just as much merit as the people informing the news papers and tv stations. Only, we can react much faster with the speed and uninterrupted broadcasting by the interwebs. As long as we have a well seasoned journalist fact checking and presenting the information in a professional way (which I'm sure we can all agree the Geeky Swedes are doing a fantastic job at) I think local news will be much more reliable and accessible this way.

As for legality, the Times does not assume any risk in linking us, and we've taken the same legal precautions with our own coverage (written by experienced journalists) as any other news organization.