ABSTRACT
Firmly on the back foot, with shrinking space for coverage and more staff writers forced to go freelance, the arts community of the British legacy press experienced something interesting and inventive happening from within. In 2009 The Arts Desk sprang up as the UK's first daily website providing news, reviews and features across the whole of the arts spectrum. The UK's best-known online-only theatre websites both began life in 1997. The twenty-first-century version combines reviews, news, videos, interviews and - crucially - a ticket-purchasing facility from which WhatsOnStage.com (WOS) receives a percentage from the sale. Curated content is very popular for readers who may have a deep interest in a subject and would want to engage with it online but do not have the time to find it. Arts administration graduate Megan Vaughan is widely regarded as one of the most exciting bloggers writing about British theatre in the last few years.
