In the 1989 film “Say Anything,” Lloyd Dobler tells his girlfriend’s family what he wants—or doesn’t want—to do with his life:



Sounds like the agreement the Chicago Tribune struck this week.

The Tribune inked a deal with Journatic to provide content for the paper’s hyper-local websites and print editions covering the Chicago suburbs. At least 20 staffers are expected to lose their jobs because of the move.

Journatic is a six-year-old company that aggregates data through a series of algorithms, full-time staffers, and freelancers (at $4 article). It provides content for media companies, including the San Francisco Chronicle, for marketers, and for its website BlockShopper.com.

Michael Miner, a media critic with the weekly Chicago Reader, spoke with Journatic CEO Brian Timpone, who described the service his company provides as data collection. It gathers news and collects data, according to Timpone.

Where does the data collection happen? It is collected and processed in the Philippines, Timpone told Miner. The writing of necessity happens at home.

So, the news that will appear on the Tribune’s hyper-local news sites and print editions will be collected and processed, then bought and sold.

This strategy has been cast as the future of hyper-local news.

Dobler would not approve.

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