D.C. Enterprise, Homicide Watch, Struggles with Funding

D.C.'s own Homicide Watch has been going through a very public struggle to find funding for its innovative journalistic enterprise.

David Carr from The New York Times wrote about Homicide Watch last week in his piece, "Innovation in Journalism Goes Begging for Support."

Carr describes the website operated by wife and husband team Laura and Chris Amico as "a remarkable thing to behold."

Despite its growing traffic and respected name, the site has not been snatched up by a larger publication or non-profit. It is currently on hiatus from publishing.

"Like the victims it covers, Homicide Watch ended up falling through the cracks," writes Carr.

In September of last year Patch interviewed Laura Amico about her site.

At the time, Amico told Patch: "It's so rewarding to take something that journalists have been doing forever - reporting on crime - and find a way to do it that is more beneficial for both reporters and the community."

Here's an excerpt from that interview:

Patch: When you started Homicide Watch, did you feel like you were filling a void in the market? 

Amico: I knew that as a D.C. resident, the crime coverage I was looking for wasn't there. For example, when I looked for information about crimes in my neighborhood I ended up bypassing traditional media and going instead to the police department, court and the listserves. Because I was a reporter, I was pretty savvy at finding information that I was looking for that wasn't being published regularly or was being published but was nearly impossible to find. What I didn't know was if there was an audience beyond me that was interested in complete and organized coverage of violent crime. It quickly became apparent that there was.

Read Patch's full Q&A with Amico here.

Read the New York Times piece here.