Lately there have been a lot of happenings in the world of hyper-local citizen journalism projects. The venture-funded Backfence series of sites crashed and burned, Pegasus News was sold to Fisher Communications, and the Washington Post launched its first hyper-local effort, LoudonExtra. The idea behind many of these sites is to capture the smaller stories that newspapers, TV and radio can’t cover because they happen at the neighborhood level. They also aim to get average citizens involved in the process of gathering and reporting what’s happening. The problem is that there is no easy business model for these sites, and they require a lot of effort in community organizing and outreach. (Check this MediaShift post on some of the lessons learned by pioneers.) But I’m wondering where you go to get your hyper-local news: a community newspaper, the coffee shop, a local blog or website or somewhere else? What would you want to see in an ideal hyper-local site covering your own neighborhood? Share your thoughts in the comments below and I’ll run a selection of them in the next Your Take Roundup.
- 13 years ago
Mark Glaser
Categories: Social Networking
What’s your favorite way of getting hyper-local or neighborhood news?
Tags: emailforumshyper-localjournalismnewspapers
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View Comments (31)
As an assistant editor of the local weekly--a fourth generation, family-owned broadsheet, supported in part by the family print shop--the answer is probably obvious. I read our paper and the few others at the fringes of our coverage area. (Yes, we have a fairly large chunk of territory with no competition.)
DSL access problems have limited the use of the web as local social networking and local news in this rural area and the paper is in the early stages of figuring out how best to use the web in a way that doesn't cost the company money.
Lately, I've been thinking about the citizen journalist. Because our budget is tight, we depend on press releases for many of our 56-ish pages in a circulation of 9,000 or so. We also have Town Correspondents, ultra-local social news writers.
Some bloggers are under the mistaken impression that bloggers were the first citizen journalists. The Town Correspondents may not publish "what someone wants suppressed," and though press release writers may have a vested interest, around here it's generally vested in some community non-profit or local chapter of a bigger picture, from Rotary to watershed associations. In any case, they've been making local papers local for a long, long time.
Now, I'm headed of to the FrontPorch forum to see what's happening in Vermont.
Front Porch Forum drops neighborhood news in my mailbox, and I love the close community centered aspect of it. I walk my dogs every day, and when I meet people in the neighborhood who I haven't met yet, we can always talk about what's on the Forum! Newcomers can get instantly connected to their neighbors, and belong in a heartbeat -- or a keystroke!
The Front Porch Forum is a postmodern return to citizen democracy which is nurturing the burgeoning hunger for community in our society. Feeding the mind and the soul, the neighborly interchange provides the information necessary to participate intelligently in the democratic process, develop deeper connections with those around us, and provides the support and care that meld individuals who live near one another into neighbors. This may well be the most important advance in community development strategies in decades. Communities around the country will be seeking this opportunity to strengthen their social infrastructure, to foster healthy communities, and to provide the support necessary for their citizens to live vibrant, connected live. Michael Wood Lewis deserves a MacArthur Fellowship for an idea as visionary and important as this.
I love our local Front Porch Forum. I live in Charlotte, Vermont (near Burlington). It's been a great way to connect with neighbors.
My neighborhood Front Porch Forum is still in its baby step stages, but it is still the best way for immediate news. I also am connectec to the Volunteer section of the forum which contains selected messages that may be of wider interest than just one neighborhood. I heard about it from my daughter who works in the neighborhood of the original forum.
I trust the news the same way I do when I meet someone in the grocery store (Vermont is still the kind of place where you ALWAYS meet someone you know at the grocery store). These are truly MY neighbors -- and why would they lie to me about a lost cat, the time of the school board meeting, or wanting to borrow a garden tractor, for Pete's sake?
And what was that about being tied in to the local power base? You have to be kidding, right? It's people like us who ARE the local power base, whatever that is and if we have one. How is anyone going to tie up the collective voices of thousands of reporters, each speaking from her own heart and his own home? This is the most free form of expression and the absolute best use of the internet I can think of.
OnMilwaukee.com. Daily magazine and community site.
Publicpress.org is my favorite way of getting local news. It's great because anyone in the world can create their own hyperlocal, digital newspaper for sharing and archiving their community's local news, events, reviews, and information. It lets users upload incident reports, news articles, community events, garage sale information, lost and found information, help wanted posts, etc. It does all craiglist stuff plus collaborative journalism. I can trust what is posted because Public Press encourages fellow citizens to review, edit, and vet the stories. So reputations for credibility are established and maintained by other journalists on the site.
The service is very new and is currently focused in Portland, Oregon. According to the website, the site is a completely volunteer effort run amazingly by just two people with a passion for utilizing technology as a means for improving community.
It's great to see the true, unadulterated, democratization of journalism, peer reviewed for credibility and available to all.
Publicpress.org is my favorite way of getting local news. It's great because anyone in the world can create their own hyperlocal, digital newspaper for sharing and archiving their community's local news, events, reviews, and information. It lets users upload incident reports, news articles, community events, garage sale information, lost and found information, help wanted posts, etc. It does all craiglist stuff plus collaborative journalism. I can trust what is posted because Public Press encourages fellow citizens to review, edit, and vet the stories. So reputations for credibility are established and maintained by other journalists on the site.
The service is very new and is currently focused in Portland, Oregon. According to the website, the site is a completely volunteer effort run amazingly by just two people with a passion for utilizing technology as a means for improving community.
It's great to see the true, unadulterated, democratization of journalism, peer reviewed for credibility and available to all.
Am I the only reader of MediaShift that doesn't live near Burlington, VT?
OurTown.com now has local editors in the 48 contiguous states and is on track to have 1000 editors very soon. It has launched more than 70,000 sites, including every ZIP, and is licensing dozens of new local editors for those sites daily. With local advertising, business search, calendars, and interactivity, it will be the premiere digital hyper-local site. If you are interested in becoming a http://www.OurTown.com local editor, visit the site for more info.