announcement

ARLnow publisher announces editorial hire, new partnerships and new site

By ARLnow.com

Local News Now, the Arlington-based publisher behind ARLnow, has a trio of announcements to kick off the week.

First, we have a new leader on the news side of things. Brandi Bottalico, who most recently served as an editor of the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, has joined LNN in the newly created position of editorial team lead.

Brandi will work across the sites we own and operate in Northern Virginia, helping to lead our team of local journalists while guiding a number of editorial initiatives that we have planned over the next year. She started last week.

LNN now employs 10 full-time employees and two full-time contractors — nine on the news side and three on the business side — plus a number of part-time contributors.

Second, we have a new website. FFXnow will cover all of Fairfax County, with a hyperlocal focus on the Reston and Tysons areas. Our existing Reston Now and Tysons Reporter sites will be folded into FFXnow, though each will maintain their brand and identity as separate social media accounts and daily email newsletters, focused on each respective coverage area.

FFXnow will officially launch in February with three full-time journalists and plans to eventually expand to additional hyperlocal coverage areas within the county.

Finally, we have two new partners: Potomac Local (covering Prince William and Stafford counties) and Lake & McHenry County Scanner (covering part of suburban Chicago).

In addition to publishing our soon-to-be three owned-and-operated sites — ARLnow, ALXnow and FFXnow — LNN assists other local publishers with their web presence, advertising sales and other business services. The goal is to help our partners grow revenue, focus on readers, and do more local journalism.

The partnership with Lake & McHenry County Scanner represents our first expansion outside of the greater D.C. area.

These agreements — which join our existing partnerships with PoPville, Greater Greater Washington and Run Washington — will lead to continued expansion of our business operations, including more advertising sales and sponsored content production capabilities. The additional capabilities will also benefit our owned-and-operated sites, boosting revenue and allowing the sites to do more local reporting.

Local organizations interested in advertising can check out the new-for-2022 sponsored content and banner ad options here. We are also expanding self-serve options, like Community Posts, across our network of sites.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com
The Netherlands Carillon is illuminated, with D.C. monuments in the background (Photo courtesy Stefanie Johnson)

Arlington Has Been ‘Abnormally Dry’ — From the National Weather Service: “The latest Drought Monitor released shows an expansion of drought conditions across Virginia, the eastern panhandle of West Virginia, District of Columbia, and parts of Maryland. Abnormal dryness now encompasses most of the region.” [Twitter]

Introducing Commenter Badges — We’re giving the comment section an early Christmas present by rolling out new commenter badges. Earn badges by — among other things — accumulating 50 or more upvote on a comment, by posting useful corrections on an article, or by joining the ARLnow Press Club (members should reply to the morning email with your Disqus user name to request this). In all, there are a total of eight badges. [Disqus]

Nearby: Alexandria SROs on Leave — “The two school resource officers at Alexandria City High School have been removed from their posts and placed on administrative leave after a ‘serious complaint,’ according to the Alexandria Police Department.” [ALXnow]

It’s Friday — Today will be mostly cloudy, with a high near 62. Rain is likely overnight. Sunrise at 7:21 a.m. and sunset at 4:48 p.m. Chances of rain on Saturday, with a low of 44 and a high of 64. Mostly cloudy and breezy Sunday, with a low of 35 and a high of 61. [Weather.gov]

Photo courtesy Stefanie Johnson

ARLnow’s opinion columns will be ending after next week

By ARLnow.com

On January 8, 2013, ARLnow published its first regularly-scheduled opinion column, written by Peter Rousselot.

Since then we’ve expanded to eight distinct columns, which run on a biweekly basis. In all, we have published nearly 2,000 articles from our opinion columnists since Peter’s first piece.

Times change, however, and we must not be afraid to adapt as the media landscape and reader expectations evolve.

In August we made the decision to end the columns at the end of the year. There were three primary reasons.

  1. A shift in reader perceptions of opinion content. Many readers now perceive the publication of an opinion piece to be a tacit endorsement of it.
  2. A change in reader reactions. We’ve noticed that in the comments, on social media and in emails people are increasingly engaging in personal attacks on our opinion columnists themselves, instead of just debating their opinions.
  3. A need to evolve. Nothing lasts forever and we need to keep what we publish on ARLnow fresh, interesting and relevant to our readers. While interest in the columns remain strong — Jane’s piece on leaf blowers is our most-read post of the year — it feels like it’s time to try something new.

The column decision followed a previous decision to end publication of all unsolicited letters to the editor and op-eds, which itself was made in the wake of the New York Times / Sen. Tom Cotton controversy.

Given the current state of social media and the national discourse, it is simply too fraught of an environment in which to pick what we do and do not publish among opinion contributions. And, frankly, there is no shortage of places where those with opinions can have them heard.

Whether publishing a missive on Medium, a thread on Twitter, or a comment in our comment section, those with opinions are not lacking options for getting them out there. What is more difficult is amplification — getting them widely read. Publication on the homepage of ARLnow is certainly a way to do that, and it’s a power that we take seriously.

As such, instead of rewarding those who write a few paragraphs and send an email with amplification in the form of a letter-to-the-editor post, we are instead considering such opinions for inclusion in news articles on a given topic. Those who have put in the work to get a petition widely signed, to start a coalition, to get politically engaged, to do in-depth research — and then to reach out to us — are more likely to get quoted in these pages.

In the case of the columns, the plan is to find new ways to highlight the perspectives of our current columnists, as well as other knowledgeable and civically-engaged locals. We’re not totally sure what form this will take, but we’re looking forward to working with contributors and readers to present a diverse and representative range of opinions in a way that adds meaningfully to the local discourse while minimizing toxicity.

In the meantime, we are saying goodbye for now to our current columnist lineup. The final Making Room, Community Matters, Modern Mobility and Ed Talk columns will publish this week. The final Progressive Voice, Right Note, Peter’s Take and What’s Next columns will publish next week.

Thank you to our columnists for sharing your time and your knowledge — and for your willingness to put your opinions out there, despite it all — in the interest of trying to make Arlington a better place.

Photo by Jeremy Bezanger on Unsplash

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Manafort Home Up for Sale — A house in the Clarendon area that was once sought as a forfeiture to the federal government as part of the case against Paul Manafort is now up for sale. The house is owned by Manafort’s daughter, though the feds once argued that it was paid for by Manafort with money transferred from a shell company in Cyprus. The 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath home is listed for $2.35 million. Manafort was pardoned by President Trump late last year. [Realtor.com]

Northam Announces Mental Health Funding — “Governor Ralph Northam today announced that the Commonwealth will commit $485 million in federal and state funding to address pressing challenges in Virginia’s behavioral health system. The plan includes targeted investments to alleviate pressure on state mental health hospitals, strengthen community-based services, and increase support for substance abuse treatment and prevention programs. The Governor made the announcement at the Arlington County Community Services Board and was joined by Senator Adam Ebbin and Delegates Mark Sickles, Patrick Hope, and Alfonso Lopez.” [Press Release, Twitter, Twitter]

Nearby: Route 1 Fight Brewing in Fairfax Co. — “There’s another fight brewing over a Route 1 redesign, this time in Fairfax Co. Neighbors feel VDOT has once again sought to make the road too wide for it to be walkable, posing safety issues.” [Twitter, Washington Business Journal]

ARLnow Welcomes New Team Members

By ARLnow.com

Two new full-time employees and a summer intern have joined the ARLnow team, helping to produce a greater breadth and depth of local news coverage on our sites.

David Taube started last month and is primarily focused on reporting for our Fairfax County news sites: Reston Now and Tysons Reporter. He joins us from the Hearst Television national desk in Pittsburgh.

Dana Munro started last week as ARLnow’s first-ever Evening Editor. She will report stories, assist with breaking news coverage on weekday evenings, and work on our forthcoming premium membership offering, the ARLnow Press Club. Dana was previously a newscast producer for WBAY in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Anuj Khemka is ARLnow’s summer intern. Anuj, an Arlington resident, attends Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology and is editor-in-chief of the student publication tjTODAY.org. He will report stories for ARLnow and our Fairfax County sites, in addition with assisting with special projects, including the launch of the ARLnow Press Club.

With the new hires our company now has 11 full-time employees, in addition to freelance contributors and interns.

Thank you to our advertisers, business partners, and Patreon members — who will be transitioned over to the Press Club once it launches — for your ongoing support, allowing us to sustainably grow and produce even more local journalism.

ARLnow Parent Company Announces Three New Hires

By ARLnow.com

ARLnow’s parent company, Local News Now, is proud to announce three new full-time hires.

These hires, two of which are for newly-created positions, are made possible by a strong recovery in LNN’s advertising business since the depths of the pandemic-induced recession. We were further emboldened to add to our team, despite uncertainty about the economy and the pandemic, by our ARLnow Patreon community and the support provided by readers.

LNN publishes ARLnow, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in January, as well as ALXnow, Tysons Reporter and Reston Now. We also provide sales and technical services to PoPville.

The new hires will allow us to improve the breadth and depth of our local journalism, while also strengthening our increasingly-popular sponsored content offerings.

Angela Woolsey is joining us as the new Tysons Reporter editor, replacing Catherine Douglas Moran, who is now an Associate Editor at Industry Dive. Angela was formerly a general assignment reporter for the Fairfax County Times.

Jo DeVoe is joining us as a reporter and copy editor for ARLnow and Tysons Reporter. She joins us from Hearst newspapers in Connecticut, including the Greenwich Time, where she primarily reported on education.

Carson Kohler will be joining the team on Nov. 2 as our new Content Marketing Manager, helping advertising clients maximize their sponsored content investment with us and better engage our readers. She is currently a writer with The Penny Hoarder.

Additionally, Scott Fields will be joining us as a part-time contributor, providing coverage for both our Arlington and our Fairfax County sites.

Thank you to our Northern Virginia and D.C. communities for your support and readership. We look forward to continuing to find ways to better serve you.

Thank You for Getting Us Through, Arlington

By ARLnow.com

At least for now, ARLnow has weathered the storm caused by the coronavirus pandemic, and we’ve done it with your help.

Back in March and April, things were looking bleak. For a time, advertising sales were down over 40% and new sales had nearly stopped. We were staring into a void of financial losses and a worsening economic picture. But then things started going right.

Several hundred people joined our Patreon page. Others sent one-time donations via Paypal. Almost all of our ongoing advertisers stuck with us. And eventually, the financial outlook improved to the point where today we can say: we’re out of imminent danger.

Thanks to the support of our readers and advertisers, we have been able to retain our full-time staff and keep reporting, uninterrupted. We’re running pretty lean at the moment, and tired from months of a very busy news cycle, but we’re here.

The Patreon campaign was intended to be a temporary measure, and given that we’re in decent shape we are pausing billing for our members through at least September. As there is a very real risk of a second wave of infection hitting the region in the fall, we’d appreciate if those who joined can stay on until we know the coast is clear. We’ll continue to defer billing until a need returns, at which point we would let you know that the Patreon is being turned back on.

In the meantime, we’d encourage those seeking to donate to worthy local causes to consider AFAC, A-SPAN, Arlington Thrive, the Arlington Community Foundation and other local nonprofits.

The pandemic has hit the media business, particularly local news, very hard, and we’re incredibly grateful to the Arlington community for your readership and support. It didn’t seem like the right time to brag about it, but at the height of the crisis we reached 2.5 million monthly pageviews, a new record and more than 1 million views over the record we set in February.

So thank you, Arlington. We look forward to continuing to serve the community for years to come.

– The ARLnow Team

Local Businesses Can Promote Themselves on ARLnow for Free

By ARLnow.com

Do you operate a small business in Arlington that is open but struggling amid the coronavirus shutdown?

We know the feeling. And we want to help.

For now until whenever things get back to mostly normal, ARLnow is offering free Community Posts to locally-owned businesses that need a bit of a boost.

>>Submit your post here<<

Here are some ways you can use a Community Post:

  • Let the community know you’re still open
  • Promote a new online ordering page
  • Tell local customers about specials you’re running

Community Posts stay on ARLnow’s homepage and email newsletter for up to 7 days.

This is being provided as a free service to local businesses. We ask that submitters limit posts to 150 words or less and refrain from promoting treatments or services related to COVID-19.

Thanks, Arlington, We’re Continuing to Work Hard for You

By ARLnow.com

A week ago, we leveled with you: a deterioration in the advertising business is putting ARLnow in a tough spot.

Tonight we’re happy to say that readers have answered our call for temporary support and provided a meaningful level of donations via Paypal and monthly pledges via Patreon.

We are humbled by the response from the community and promise to put your contributions to good use, providing vital, up-to-the-minute information during this crisis, telling stories that need to be told, and finding ways to support local businesses.

To that end, tonight we’re announcing a new initiative to help small local businesses reach potential customers during the outbreak. Effective immediately, all community posts on the site will be free to locally-owned small businesses in Arlington.

To get the word out about things your business is doing to serve the community during the coronavirus outbreak, submit a short post here for publication. We hope it helps keep readers informed and businesses afloat during this tough time.

(Other forms of advertising and sponsored content remains a paid service — we need to keep the lights on!)

From our overworked and home-bound staff, thank you to every one of our donors. And if you have the means to donate a few bucks a month but haven’t done so yet, we hope you’ll consider joining them — every little bit counts and we can still use the help.

How ARLnow Plans to Continue Covering the Coronavirus Crisis

By ARLnow.com

Last month, ARLnow set a new all-time readership record: 1.45 million pageviews. In the nine days since the first coronavirus case was reported in Arlington, we have blown that away, setting fresh records every night.

For the past 30 days, we’ve served 600,000 readers and just under 2 million pageviews.

It has been an incredibly busy two weeks for ARLnow’s staff. We have been working around the clock to provide vital community coverage, continuing to dig up scoops while curating a large amount of information that has been coming in via email and social media. We have also been working to make sure we can continue to operate amid unprecedented business disruptions.

It seems like ages since our first staff meeting about coronavirus, on Friday, March 6 — before the NBA season was cancelled and the president went on TV.

Here’s part of the staff memo:

There are two schools of thought regarding the outbreak. One is that it’s not too bad and it’s going to be similar to the flu, and it will be business as normal in a few months. The other is that this is a “black swan event” that is a significant public health danger as well as a prolonged disruption to the economy. At this point, from what I’m seeing, I lean more toward the latter.

Obviously, the more alarmist-seeming (at the time) prediction proved to be very much correct.

We sent our editorial staff home the following Tuesday, after Arlington’s first confirmed case, and our business staff home shortly thereafter. We have been working remotely ever since, with the exception of our roving staff photographer, Jay Westcott, who is taking proper precautions to stay healthy.

Given the extraordinarily high readership ARLnow has been getting, we know that we have a big responsibility to keep the community well informed. And we are going to do just that, through thick or thin, to the best of our ability. Expect continued, up-to-the-minute coverage, including both enterprise reporting and curation of the firehose of press releases and info we’re getting, in the coming weeks.

But choppy seas are ahead. Advertising-supported local media in the D.C. area is hurting, as DCist reported today. ARLnow’s amazing advertisers have mostly stuck with us so far, but amid the chaos the usual steady flow of new sales has slowed to a trickle.

We have prided ourselves on making our reporting free for all, and not asking readers to support our ongoing operations. But this time things are different — we need your help to get through this. ARLnow runs a lean operation, and don’t have legacy newsprint costs to worry about, but we still have significant expenses — salaries, benefits, office rent (shout out to our friends at Techspace), and enterprise-grade web hosting, to name a few.

If you have enjoyed reading ARLnow over the past 10 years, and you have the means to give us a few bucks a month, we would very much appreciate you joining our Patreon.

If you would prefer, you can also send contributions via Paypal.

We have two Patreon tiers: $6 and $10 per month. Every little bit will help us get through this for the next couple of months. And when everything is back in business and we’re in the clear, we’ll let you know.

While we appreciate inquiries about giving more, the truth is there are plenty of local organizations and people that need it more urgently than us. Please give the big bucks to nonprofits like AFAC, A-SPAN, Arlington Thrive, the Arlington Community Foundation and others.

We are humbled by the trust Arlington has placed in us, in making ARLnow your go-to local news source. If you can go a step further and support us for the next few months, we would be extremely grateful. Maybe we’ll even throw a party when this whole thing is over.

Thank you.

ARLnow Removes Old Crime Reports from Search Engine Indexing

By ARLnow.com

ARLnow is moving to remove old crime reports from internet searches.

After a review of past articles, we made the decision to keep the crime report articles on our site, but to mark each as pages that should not be indexed by Google, Bing and others.

In years past, Arlington County Police published a weekly crime report summary that ARLnow, in turn, reproduced, highlighting the more significant items. More recently, ARLnow compiled daily crime reports into a weekly post, the last of which was published on Aug. 1, 2019.

The problem is that along with the more significant items, crime reports would sometimes report on arrests for minor, nonviolent crimes — including the names of criminal suspects — without a mechanism in place to eventually remove such names from the record.

The decision to remove these posts from search engine visibility will not affect articles on individual crimes, which typically highlighted more serious incidents like robberies, stabbings and murders. It will, however, give dozens of nonviolent offenders a better chance at moving on with their lives after paying their debt to society — and that’s not to mention incidents in which someone was arrested but never convicted.

(ARLnow and its sister sites — ALXnow, Tysons Reporter, Reston Now — previously made the decision to stop using mug shots in most reporting of minor crime.)

The ethics of nonviolent crime reporting at local outlets across the country have been under scrutiny in recent months. Crime reporters are reevaluating basic norms such as publishing the names and faces of offenders who pose little physical threat to the community.

Many who have spoken on the topic argue that these crime reports live on long after the offender they describe has paid the price for their crime — making it difficult to for the offender to move on with their lives. In an op-ed for the Guardian, former crime reporter Hunter Pauli writes about his decision to quit his job because of questions he had about the informative value of some crime reports and the impact on people’s lives.

“If you do a Google search for [the offender’s] name, the first results are stories about his alleged crimes,” Pauli wrote. “How is he supposed to get a legitimate job when a potential employer takes a cursory glance at his name? How is he expected to make an honest living and stay out of trouble?”

ARLnow has an existing crime report policy in place that provides for a review process if someone named in a crime article would like to request removal of their name:

If you have been arrested for a crime and have been found innocent or had the charges dropped, we will, upon request and at our sole discretion, consider removing your name from any articles we have published and requesting that Google update the page in their cache. We will also consider name removal for minor crimes that occurred more than 4 years ago.

If you would like to request name removal, please email us at [email protected] with your name, a link to the article in question, and proof of the court verdict or case status. Processing this request may take several weeks.

Our decision-making in these cases attempts to find a balance between the public interest of knowing about past criminal incidents and the private interest of individuals seeking to clear their name or move on from past mistakes. Note that all such emails will be reviewed, but we may not be able to reply to every message received, regardless of the ultimate outcome.

Shreeya Aranake contributed to this report. Flickr pool photo by Kevin Wolf.

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