Pros
I was an editor with the ability to hire and oversee my own team of freelance reporters. This was a great way to gain management experience, and I really liked my freelancers. Steady paycheck. A chance to improve breaking news chops. This was back when Patch was owned by AOL, so I can't speak to what it's like under its new owners, the Hale Media Group.
Cons
Geez, where do I start? Regularly worked 60+ hours per week. Rarely got a good night's rest unless I just said F it. Even though I had my freelancers, they mostly handled features and light news. Where the real help was needed was with covering breaking news, which almost always fell to me. Except, that's nearly impossible to balance when you're also the one editing the site, balancing a budget and needing to cover city news and such. It was simply an unsustainable way to run a news site. Burnout happened rapidly. An expectation to help out with building relationships with local businesses for the purpose of attracting paid ads on the site (the editorial and advertising division common in old-school news absolutely went out the window with Patch and I always felt a bit unethical about interacting with local business owners and city officials at events. To refuse meant that you were not being a "team player." People got fired for daring to lead a life outside of work (attending kids' birthday parties, tending to sick parents, sleeping, grocery shopping, doing laundry)