The AOL news sites are posing a threat to long-established but lesser-funded local news outlets around the L.A. area, says an LA Weekly story by Tibby Rothman. "It's a Walmart moving in and driving out the mom-and-pop businesses," says Timothy Rutt of AltadenaBlog. Also from the story:

Each local editor — who essentially acts as reporter, editor, aggregator and community-outreach manager — is given a website, a MacBook Pro, a digital camera with video and an iPhone or BlackBerry, and reportedly paid between $38,000 and $45,000 with health benefits.

The editors then pay individual freelancers about $50-$100 per item....

But instead of bringing journalistic eyes to spots that desperately need it, Patch isn't opening in Bell, Compton, South Gate, Vernon or Cudahy. It's taking the Real Housewives circuit: Beverly Hills, the West Valley and the Westside.

Patch Media's Webster concedes that the more attractive suburbs are the focus, where regional dailies have cut back coverage and left a business opportunity. But he promises that next year more Patches will launch in "underserved communities."