Paper: WPRI Providence's Web Gamble Paying Off

The Providence Phoenix has an interesting read on WPRI’s web strategy, and how the LIN station has filled a digital news void created when the Providence Journal newspaper erected a pay wall.

Writes the paper:

News junkies and, really, anyone who cares about the long-term health of the Ocean State press, were left with a big question: who would rescue the Rhode Island web?

Turns out a local television station, WPRI, was already on the case. And in the coming days, when it adds another web-based reporter, it will double down on an experiment like none other in the region.

Indeed, WPRI’s grab for control of Rhode Island’s screens - television, computer, and smart phone - may be the only one of its kind in the country.

The article focuses on digital reporter Ted Nesi, who we wrote about a few years ago. 

The idea was to produce as much original, enterprising reporting as possible - not only to ratchet up ratings in the short term, but to compensate for local television’s ever-loosening grip on the news of the day; by the time the 6 pm news rolls around, most people have already heard about the governor’s press conference or the jump in the unemployment rate. They need something more, something new.

WPRI is hiring a second digital reporter in Dan McGowan, whom the paper says is, along with Nesi, perhaps the best young reporter in Rhode Island.