In the Loop: November 8, 2007 Archive

HEADLINE: Online newspaper looks kind of like...a newspaper

Posted at 11:06 AM on November 8, 2007 by Jeff Horwich (2 Comments)

MinnPost has launched. The site looks credible, polished, well-rounded....

Kind of like a newspaper.

One would expect that with a staff of ex-newspaper writers, the product you'd get would have something newspaper-y about it. Indeed. (MPR's Marty Moylan has a story on the launch, and I blogged some initial thoughts a few days ago.)

I'm strong believer that young (and young-at-heart) readers are not turning away from newspapers just because they hate things made out of paper. It's much more complicated than that -- a matter of style, attitude, electricity, and the indefinable difference between "old" and "new." Doesn't look like MinnPost has made any such bold leap right out of the gate.

The other X-factor, of course, is their ability to break stories. If they can do that, then maybe the "feel" won't matter so much. Aside from a piece on the in-debt DFL, nothing much smacks of a scoop just yet.

In the meantime, "newer" (and rougher) feeling competitor The Daily Mole serves up the first installment of something called "The Angry Clown."

OK.... These two are looking less and less like they're members of the same species.

Anyone else been surfing these sites? What do you make of 'em?

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