Local D.C. media site to close

http://mediagazer.com/141228/p5#a141228p5

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/the-death-of-homicide-watch-dc-bloggers-take-their-last-case/2014/12/28/dce867fa-86f2-11e4-9534-f79a23c40e6c_story.html

Many media people are whining about the site not finding a financier. Maybe these people should organize a Kickstarter campaign and contribute money.

Sites like BuzzFeed, Vox, etc have at least a national audience if not an international audience. D.C. Homicide Watch is obviously locally focused.

http://homicidewatch.org

Homicide Watch D.C., a much-praised combination of true crime blog, case log, document dump and victim memorial, will shut down Wednesday after chronicling hundreds of murders over the past four years, the Web site’s founders say.

The couple wanted to find a new home for the site, which they created to “Mark every death. Remember every victim. Follow every case.” But after “many conversations” with news organizations, the Amicos did not find any takers.

Homicide Watch “is a valuable community service,” said Bill Miller, the spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. The blog highlighted “the impact that violence has on so many lives in the District of Columbia . . . and the commitment and work that goes into bringing killers to justice.”

The couple has been living in Massachusetts since 2012, when Laura Amico won a Nieman-Berkman fellowship in journalism innovation at Harvard. She said managing the site, which gets about a half-million page views a month, from hundreds of miles away using interns in the District became untenable.

“The site needs local ownership that is connected to, and known by, the community it serves.”

But the Amicos were never able to reach an agreement with a local news organization, including The Washington Post, about partnering with or acquiring the blog, Laura Amico said. She estimated the site’s annual operating costs were about $60,000.

The demise of the franchise in Washington, which has survived on a combination of Kickstarter funds, ad revenue and free labor, won’t affect the sister sites.