By 1812Blockhouse
We’re starting a short series today on 1812Blockhouse that we’re calling “Under the Hood.”
There’s not a great deal of mechanical ability here at 1812Blockhouse, truth be told. A series entitled “Under the Hood,” therefore, is certainly not going to be about automobile repair or anything of that nature.
Instead, we’re going to pass along, from time to time, some of the behind the scenes activities here and also a bit about why we do what we do.
Today, that means the first of a two-part look at Richland News, a feature on the home page of 1812Blockhouse on desktop and at the very top of the site on mobile, immediately following the featured stories. Richland News is actually one of the key ways that our site differs from most other news sites in the country.
First, a bit about the process we use to create the Richland News section each morning.
We begin with four local online news and information sites — WMFD, Richland Source, the Mansfield News Journal, and the Shelby Daily Globe. Those four have been the main lineup for much of our history; the Daily Globe being the last addition after its online version came back online several months ago.
Those four sites are listed in that order, top to bottom, based on ease of access. Both WMFD and Richland Source now have completely open sites. That is the model which we have also adopted, and so we want to support our sister sites that have free access to news. When we started Richland News, Richland Source was experimenting with a “registration paywall,” that is, it was requiring registration but not payment to access stories — so we placed WMFD first, a position it holds to this day.
The two sites with a “paywall,” that is, a fee to read stories, are listed below those.
Each morning, we choose posts from those sites that meet the following criteria — first, they are about Richland County or Richland Countians, and second, we believe they provide relevant and timely information to readers.
There are a couple of exceptions to this rule. First, we do not post links to stories that we have covered or deal with subject matter that forms the basis of articles which have been published by or are being written here at 1812Blockhouse. Second, we will almost always choose only one post for a given subject — usually that which appears to provide the best coverage.
Lastly, we use various means to find relevant additional news coverage of stories that deal in some way with Richland County. That often includes posts about Bellville that appear in the Galion Inqurier, which is part of AIM Media, former owner of the Bellville Star. We are just as likely to post links to stories from other publications, including other local sites (WMAN, e.g.) or those in other cities and states.
We’ve even had posts that originate in other countries, if they have local subject matter.
This weekend, we’ll share a bit about why Richland News exists, and why we believe that it is one of the best parts about what we do here at 1812Blockhouse.
