OCLNN is History!

THAT WAS QUICK!
After only four months of operation, the fledgling Orange County Local News Network is gone - poof!

SHUT DOWN YESTERDAY WITHOUT NOTICE
As reported HERE in the Orange County Business Journal, OCLNN ceased operations yesterday, Monday, May 24th. Calls to their number went directly to voicemail.

YEP, THEY'RE ALL GONE
The reported 20 staffers were domiciled adjacent to the Daily Pilot and other Times Community News entities in the Los Angeles Times facility on Sunflower in Costa Mesa. A call to the Daily Pilot confirmed that the entire OCLNN staff was laid off yesterday and that the space they occupied now holds only echoes.

NO REASON GIVEN FOR THE CLOSURE
I've followed the OCLNN since it launched earlier this year and thought they were doing a pretty good job of providing timely original content and relevant aggregated local news from other sources. No reason for its failure was given in the OC Business Journal article, although some might speculate that they had difficulties attracting advertising revenue, without which any news organization will fail.

WHAT ABOUT THE NEWPORT BEACH INDEPENDENT?
I cannot help but wonder about the future of the former Newport Mesa Daily Voice, which recently morphed into the Newport Beach Independent when former Daily Pilot publisher, Tom Johnson, sold the Daily Voice to an outfit in Laguna Beach and is now operating the Independent. There will be no Costa Mesa component in this modified venture and, based on its new look, it will continue to aggregate content from other sources with a little original content in the form of columnists. We'll be keeping our fingers crossed that this venture succeeds.