Denise Civiletti and Peter Blasl, publishers of RiverheadLOCAL.com, are pleased to announce the coming launch of a new online-only news website for the North Fork: SoutholdLOCAL.com.
Southold resident Lisa Finn is taking the helm as editor of the new website, which will provide fresh local news coverage for the communities of the North Fork.
Finn, whose career in journalism spans 27 years, has been an editor for Patch.com since March 2012, overseeing North Fork Patch and Riverhead Patch.
She is the former associate editor of the Mattituck-based Traveler-Watchman newspaper and has worked as a reporter for The Independent and The Southampton Press. Prior to reporting for local newspapers, she was editorial director of a NYC media company, where she oversaw the publication of nine women’s magazines.
Finn has a passion for community journalism and loves the immediacy of reporting for digital media.
“I’m excited to be joining a local media company whose ideals and values align perfectly with my own,” Finn said.
“Lisa will bring to SoutholdLOCAL.com what we’ve brought to RiverheadLOCAL.com — a truly local perspective on news, events and activities in the town she lives in, a place she loves,” Blasl said.
“She’s a talented writer with a heart for the people whose stories she loves to tell. She totally gets what community journalism is all about,” Civiletti said. “It’s all about community,” she said. “That’s why RiverheadLOCAL.com was so immediately embraced by the Riverhead community and why it’s had such phenomenal success since we launched it in 2010,” she said.
The Riverhead news start-up had nearly 1.5 million visits last year, serving more than 3 million pageviews to 423,779 unique visitors, according to Google Analytics.
“With Lisa overseeing the new site, we will bring the same brand of fresh, authentically local, no-nonsense, comprehensive coverage to Southold as we’ve delivered for Riverhead,” Civiletti said.
“We already have a good following across the North Fork with RiverheadLOCAL. Readers and businesses alike have asked us time and again when we’re going to start a site for Southold,” Blasl said. “Now, the time is right.”
SoutholdLOCAL.com will debut before the end of March, according to the publishers.
For news tips, story ideas, questions or comments, e-mail Lisa Finn: lisa@southoldlocal.com.
To learn about advertising opportunities, call Peter Blasl at 866-727-LOCAL.
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