Examiner.com, which provides hyperlocal news as a division of Clarity Digital Group LLC, has acquired Vancouver-based NowPublic.com, a user-generated news site known for its innovative search and publishing technology.
Denver-based Examiner.com operates in 109 U.S. cities, using more than 15,000 writers known as Examiners to provide locally targeted content to residents in a specific region.
The Washington Examiner, which is also owned by Clarity Digital, is not affiliated with Examiner.com.
Examiner.com Chief Executive Officer Rick Blair said his company would adopt the technology used by NowPublic, including its enhanced publishing platform and Emmy-nominated real-time mechanism for scanning online conversations.
“In the last year, we have created the depth of content consumers and advertisers expect,” Blair said. “With the acquisition of NowPublic, we have the technology to further engage our community of over 17 million unique visitors per month and distribute our stories in new and innovative ways.”
Though the two firms will continue to operate independently, Examiner.com will actively reach out to writers from NowPublic, recruiting in particular from its “professional amateur” contributors and network of international writers.
The number of contributors to Examiner.com is projected to double to more than 30,000 by the end of the year.
“The NowPublic focus has always been on providing individuals, whether they are amateurs or professional journalists, the tools they need to quickly and easily contribute their perspectives on the issues of the day and the topics that interest them and their community,” said Leonard Brody, CEO and co-founder of NowPublic. “By combining our tools and audience with Examiner.com’s established, vetted, local content generators, we are enabling Examiner.com, which has already seen incredible success, to further succeed in providing a site that attracts experts as contributors, passionate readers and the advertisers that want to reach them.”
