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Did WHYY Just Launch The Super-Sneaky Philly.com-Killer?

We’ll let you be the judge of that, but suffice it to say that Newsworks, WHYY‘s new news site is one of the smarter new media launches the city has ever seen. And for those among us who feel like the local online news hole — whether it’s Philly.com, NBCPhiladelphia or KYW-1060 — consistently panders to the lowest common denominator (year-round Wing Bowl/Naked Bike Ride slideshows, anyone?), Newsworks will feel like a breath of fresh air. Pun intended: For those that have been paying attention, over the past few years, while even the newspaper news has been getting consistently dumber, WHYY’s daily reports have been getting more robust. With reporting from Dave Davies and the rest of a cast most regular ‘HYY listeners will recognize (as well as a long list of partner sites), Newsworks does a far better job of presenting the news than the old WHYY ever did — even though, from our vantage point, that site often had the clearest take on a given matter.

Taking that news expertise into consideration, it’s curious that Newsworks’ branding is focused around the notion of “powered by WHYY and you,” preaching a bit of Web 2.0 gospel that frankly already feels a little dated. If there’s a knock on Newsworks on launch day, well, there’s a few of them: One is that its constant needy reminders that this is/will be somehow all powered by “you” is a bit of a fallacy, and perhaps an inheritance from the culture of pledge drives from which Newsworks emanates. (And sure enough, after each story, there’s a tagline: “Like Newsworks’ Journalism? Give $5 to Newsworks now or text ‘NEWS’ to 27722 on your cell phone.”) The other is that the “pioneering” “hyperlocal” (God, that word) coverage of Northwest Philly looks an awful lot like the kind of work good community newspapers have been doing for hundreds of years. (Read: It’s like the South Philly Review written, at long last, by and for people who know how to read.) And, lastly, it all feels a little academic and jumbled.

But consider the alternatives: There aren’t any, really. Newsworks has an air of adult-ness that Philly.com has never had, and most of the other big local news sites have never had any interest in any way. All told, it’s a blessing. And hell, we’ll text them five bucks every month if it means we never have to see one of those Philly.com pop-up ads or webshows hosted by the various Marnies ever again.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 15th, 2010 at 9:00 am.

  • campmisty

    Bill Marrazzo is—and I say this with no intended disrespect—refractory. Get that straight, please. Any other thinking is blame-shoving or responsibility-dodging. Furthermore, Marrazzo obsesses not with what he can do for this country but with what he can extract from it. If that fact hurts, get over it; it’s called reality. And for another dose of reality, consider that one of the goals of caciquism is to render meaningless the words “best” and “worst”. Marrazzo admires that philosophy because, by annihilating human perceptions of quality, Marrazzo’s own mediocrity can flourish. Marrazzo is a hard worker. He works hard to prevent anyone from commenting on his loopy, ignominious ipse dixits. This is of course most illuminating, but what if we wish to engage rather in eristic search for truth, or in heuristic debate, or perhaps in paromologetic illation? In my experience, I realize that the tone of this letter may be making some people feel uneasy. However, even if you’re somewhat uncomfortable reading about Marrazzo’s prodigal zingers please don’t blame me for them. I’m not the one sowing the seeds of discord. I’m not the one tearing down everything that can possibly be regarded as a support of cultural elevation. And I’m not the one censoring by caricature and preempting discussion by stereotype.

  • Nate

    Remember that time campmisty was banned? How awesome was that?

  • emmkay

    I don’t necessarily want anyone banned, but I can’t think of anyone who is creating a caricature more than campmisty.

  • friendlynerd

    It was nice while it lasted. Not sure why tips indulges this social experiment / room full of monkeys at keyboards / automated thesaurus program / whatever campmisty is.