Business & Tech

AOL's Patch Expanding Hyper-Local News Network Into Three Key 2012 Election Primary States

The new launches include the first military Patch site in Camp Pendleton.

The Patch family is growing.

Patch -- the community arm of AOL Huffington Post Media Group -- announced 33 more sites in three states, including Patch.com’s first military site, Camp Pendleton Patch.

The expansion is the latest in our growing family of more than 800 online sites in 18 states and the District of Columbia, focusing on creating timely news sites and interactive online communities.

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Now New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina will be getting their very own Patch sites; and the sites weren’t chosen at random. Those three are key early primary states in the 2012 presidential election. With Patch's professional editors in the community, along with tools such as Local Voices and our newly introduced blogging platform, Patch will be able to provide an alternative to sound-bite driven national news.

“Since our launch in 2009, Patch’s mission has been to offer the most trusted local news and information via our platform, our team of professional journalists in each town, and active participation in the communities we serve,” Warren Webster, President of Patch Media, said.  “These new sites perfectly align with that mission. Primary state Patches will empower citizens to consume and share election information in some of the most politically engaged areas of the country."

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The Camp Pendleton Patch, which is not sponsored by the base or the U.S. military, will cover both the base and neighboring Oceanside, Calif. Editor Jared Morgan is a former Marine and a current member of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

"Patch Military is a particularly satisfying new offering, in keeping with our efforts to ensure that America’s military families have the support they have earned," said Arianna Huffington, president and editor-in-chief of AOL Huffington Post Media Group. "The average military family moves every 2.9 years, so it’s vital that they have a way to easily keep up with what is going on in their communities and have a platform for directly sharing news and information with their neighbors.”

Later this year, Patch will launch three sites as part of its recently-announced Patch Latino initiative. The sites will reflect the traditional Patch model of local news, community and information and also offer dedicated coverage of topics of special interest to the Latino population. All editorial content on the sites will be in Spanish.


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