top
Santa Cruz IMC
Santa Cruz IMC
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature

Santa Cruz Patch to Shut Down for Good

by Bradley Allen (bradley [at] riseup.net)
As of today, January 29, at 2 pm the Santa Cruz Patch is all over. That's according to tweets sent this morning by Valerie Lemke, a contributor to the website, as well as by the publication's editor, Brad Kava.
santa-cruz-patch-all-over.jpg
Santa Cruz Patch began publishing in October 2010 and is part of Patch.com, a US local news and information platform operated by Patch Media Corporation and primarily owned by Hale Global, an investment company that specializes in turning around troubled companies.

Patch.com launched in December 2007 and was cofounded by AOL CEO Tim Armstrong who invested hundreds of millions of dollars into the company. As of June 2013, Patch reportedly operated some 900 local and hyperlocal news websites in 23 US states. Hale Global purchased Patch from AOL on January 15, 2014.

Jim Romenesko reports that Hale Global fired as much as two-thirds of Patch's editorial staff today, two weeks after the purchase.

Romenesko published emails from Patch employees about the layoff. One email clarifies, “Technically, we were laid off by AOL. I presume that was a condition set by Hale. Second, I have it on good authority the layoffs were 80 to 90 percent of Patchers.”

According to tweets from Santa Cruz Patch Editor Brad Kava and freelance contributor Valerie Lemke, the Santa Cruz Patch is "over ... as of 2 pm today."

Kava tweeted from @SantaCruzPatch, "It's been a great ride at Patch for three years, but it's over...my email is bradkava@me.com and I'll have a new twitter soon."

Lemke tweeted, "Sad news! Santa Cruz Patch is NO more as of 2 pm today. Thanks so much to all who supported my Blog!! #SantaCruz https://www.facebook.com/SantaCruzPatch"

It was only a matter of time.
§Santa Cruz Patch Will Remain Online
by Hal Chase
SC Patch blogger Lemke may not have understood what is going on with the restructuring, but the Santa Cruz Patch site will remain online indefinitely and will be fed with new content by non-local editors, just as the Watsonville Patch has remained online after firing its local editor Jennifer Squires in October of 2013.
Add Your Comments
Listed below are the latest comments about this post.
These comments are submitted anonymously by website visitors.
TITLE
AUTHOR
DATE
Hal Chase
Wed, Jan 29, 2014 11:35PM
Hal Chase
Wed, Jan 29, 2014 3:05PM
Citizen Journalist
Wed, Jan 29, 2014 1:47PM
Ramiro
Wed, Jan 29, 2014 12:42PM
via Jim Romenesko
Wed, Jan 29, 2014 12:17PM
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$110.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network