One-time Bakersfield Californian hand Howard 
Owens, who now runs an online news site in upstate New York, writes that given all that Patch editors are expected to do, they’d be better off starting their own web sites. An excerpt, via Poynter’s Steve Myers:
“But here’s the thing about the work load for Patch editors: They’re not owners. They are expected to do all of the things they would have to do if they owned their own web sites, but merely in service of building wealth for AOL shareholders. … Patch editors should know that what they’re being asked to do on salary they could do for themselves far more successfully and with some chance of building a valuable business for themselves and their families.”
