An open letter to Gatehouse Media, editor Greg Reibman, and other Newton Tab staff

Dear Newton Tab editors, publishers, and staff:

Your lawsuit against the New York Times over the Boston.com "Your Town: Newton" minisite is misguided and harmful to your mission. What don't you like about inbound traffic to your sites? Or is this really about unwanted competition in your own back yard?

I predict the lawsuit will have a chilling effect on many other Web journalism ventures. I use news aggregators every day -- Techmeme and Google News -- which let me find out about stories and blogs that I might otherwise miss. Indeed, I found out about your lawsuit through Techmeme (see the image below, which includes a headline and link to the Newton Tab article by Neal Simpson). Many other people saw the link on Techmeme, too, including readers who have never seen your content before. You are no doubt experiencing a surge of traffic right now, and making money off of the display advertising, thanks to this aggregator. Are you going to sue Techmeme as well?

I've been a reader of the Newton Tab since the 1980s. I still get the print edition, but I actually consume a lot of your content on the Web. I have been very impressed with your efforts to expand online, including the Tab blog and Gatehouse's redesign of the Wicked Local: Newton site. I used to think that your team "got" the Web. Now I am not so sure.

Sincerely,

Ian Lamont