These are the early days of digital news alternatives to the mainstream, so any report that surfaces on what seems to work (and not) is welcome. The J-Lab, underwritten by the Knight Foundation, has
some early learning on hyperlocal news sites to share.
The summary isn't terribly pretty: The business model depends on grants, the most sustainable models are extensions of someone's personal commitment, and training the public to be citizen contributors is a high-churn, low-return concept.But within its findings is a big revelation: Rather than replace conventional outlets, the hyperlocal sites are adding to the public sphere's information."They’ve done a bunch of other things as well: They triggered other news stories, helped solve community problems, imparted a lot of political knowledge that empowered voters, and engendered a new level of accountability for municipal leaders," a summary of the report says.
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