More on The Arizona Guardian

In my last post, I noted the existence of the new, all-online Arizona Guardian. NPR station KJZZ interviewed Dennis Welch, whose Guardian article I quoted in the post.

The four reporters on the Guardian staff were all recently let go from the East Valley Tribune due to budget cuts. They decided to start the website instead of leaving the news field. According to Welch, the four have a combined 80 years of journalistic experience, which means they know how to get the story and how to put it on paper in pixels.

Welch sees the site as a link between mainstream newspapers and bloggers. That's probably a good description.

My guess is, we'll see more of these ventures in the near future. The Guardian's beat appears to be the legislature and related stories. Others might choose other specialties. Online readers can assemble a collection of news links and click on them, like turning to sections of the newspaper.

If the Citizen goes under, I expect we'll see a few incarnations with a local focus.

Welch says the Guardian might make the site pay-to-play. Others have tried that, with mixed results. But if ads don't pay the rent, they've got to generate income through subscriptions. Time will tell. This is an evolving model.