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Topix is a network of aggregated local news and community forums.
Topix was launched in 2004 in Palo Alto, Calif., by the founders of the Open Directory Project. Three newspaper companies — Gannett, Knight-Ridder, and the Tribune Co. — each bought a quarter of the company in 2005.
The site claims about 125 million page views and 14 million unique visitors a month. It is among the most popular newspaper-owned sites on the web.
Topix supports itself with a variety of types of geographically targeted advertising, most of which are paid, though its single-city business ads remain free. Its classified ads were initially offered for free.
Topix began as a network of aggregated local news sites generated by algorithms, but allowed users to post messages and comments in late 2005. In 2007, Topix reinvented itself as a network of community-edited blogs alongside automated local news aggregation. User content has become a major part of the site, with more than 110 million comments posted since its launch.
Topix has faced several legal challenges to its anonymous comments, with one judge forcing it to give up information about anonymous commenters accused of making libelous statements and two attorneys general criticizing it for charging users for priority review of inappropriate comments.
Topix has partnered with other newspaper companies to cross-post comments and offer hyperlocal pages.
In 2010, Topix added a Twitter feature that gives local news to users based on their location.
The Hechinger Report is a nonprofit news organization that specializes in in-depth education reporting. The Report is a project of the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media at the Columbia University Teacher’s College. It was launched in October 2009 with $1 million in initial funding from the Lumina Foundation for Education and the Bill…
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