Pros
Chance to operate within a semi-startup culture and set up a local news site in suburban cities with the technical help of the mother ship at AOL. Opportunity for a journalist to get outside the traditional box of the profession. Got to dig and learn the communities I covered better than ever. Chance to work with good freelancers and train them while the money was there.
Cons
Too many to name. In a nutshell: A fixation on traffic numbers at all costs cannibalized the journalistic product and resulted in staff reduction and massive cuts in the freelance budget and resulted a scaling back which eventually apparently led to less traffic in the long-run. Difficult work life balance issues most of the time. The company may not last long but in the end I still think it was worth the attempt. Wall Street demands seemed to trickle down to the local editor level and despite some fighting back, the future is....
