Category: Hyperlocal

media notes 12.16.13

12/16/2013

For Monday, December 16, 2013, here are some media stories of note:

Just when you thought it was safe to go outside, you find out that Google is there. The New York Times Magazine's cover story Sunday looked at the effort by Google to own the geolocation industry by mapping the world. Our devices will be beholden and so will we.

The Harvard public relations folks provide a tip on a new, promising book by scholar Thomas Patterson that calls for journalism to reinvent itself as "knowledge-based." You wonder what's new in that? Well, Patterson argues that journalism has lost its focus on trustworthy and useful information and journalists are ill-equipped to do their jobs properly. Standards need improvement.

David Carr's latest Media Equation column stirs the pot considerably with his implicit message that AOL's much-touted hyperlocal news sites, Patch, are heading out of business. Patch has been pruning all year, but AOL has insisted there remain opportunities to be profitable in the service. Carr interviews AOL CEO Tim Armstrong, who suggests there's life left in them yet, but the overwhelming message in Carr's column is that they're done. To deal with this, AOL has reassured employees that it is seeking partners in the operation. TechCrunch notes its collapse would be a real blow to Armstrong's leadership.

media notes 01.04.13

4/1/2013

Four media stories of note for Monday, April 1, 2013:

PaidContent contributor Eliza Kern writes about her own "Generation Mooch" and how it will be difficult, to say the least, to get her cohort to pay for content that has been freely available. This generation has little or no experience paying and she notes it even rides on a parent's subscription for content in behind a paywall, so it is a real question on whether it can be turned into an audience that change its habit and financially support content.

Karen Rothmyer, writing for the Columbia Journalism Review, reflects on her time as the first public editor for the Kenya TImes. She notes the precious concept of press freedom in developing countries has brought with it a respect for standards and a determination to independently oversee them, even if the work produces some uncomfortable results.

The Los Angeles Times raises questions about an advertising deal in the Orange County Register with three universities who will receive editorial coverage in exchange for their financial support. The Times notes the universities would help generate the editorial ideas and coverage. The paper asserts it retains editorial control, but the Times says some staff are uncomfortable with the arrangement.

The American Journalism Review looks at DNAInfo.com, one of the newer entrants in the hyperlocal journalism field. Underwritten by billionaire Joe Ricketts, the sites write extensively about a range of elements in New York and Chicago and have built impressive audiences in the early going. The question now is whether the financial support will follow the audience support, the article notes.

media notes 25.03.13

3/25/2013

Media stories of note for Monday, March 25, 2013:

Matthew Ingram, writing for paidContent, relates his discussions with media scholars Jay Rosen and Clay Shirky on the future of media. Their conclusion: there is a "barbell" issue in media, with either end of media, big and small, generally in good shape with strong reputations or relationships. But the middle remains quite uncertain. While Ingram doesn't suggest solutions, he concludes the challenges for medium-sized media are significant.

Matt Sokoloff, writing for the hyperlocal StreetFight blog, suggests newspapers could evolve into "local membership" organizations, using their reach to connect people to a series of services, programs, discounts and offers. The opportunities would deliver strong revenue, too.

Lauren Hockenson, writing for 10000 Words, discusses the relatively new phenomenon of hacking journalist accounts and provides a tip sheet on two-step verification to protect online identities. She argues it's a necessity, given some of the recent events.

media notes 11.03.13

3/11/2013

Four media stories of interest for Monday, March 11, 2013:

Margaret Sullivan, the public editor for The New York Times, looks at the "danger" of suppressing leaks of classified information. She wonders what the world would be like without an understanding of Abu Ghraib, black sites, or the drone program. She explores the concerns that leaks can undermine security, but notes that the trend line is toward chilling journalistic investigation. She concludes the Times needs to be more robust as a media leader in this realm.

Jack Shafer, the veteran media columnist writing now for Reuters, examines the rise of "native advertising" or "sponsored content" and is skeptical of its effectiveness. He says "publishers are advertisers have polluted their own tradition by erasing the traditional line" between editorial and advertising content. One result of this blur, he asserts, is that readers will blame controversial stories on advertisers and controversial ads on journalists.

Jeff Jarvis, in his latest Buzzmachine post, notes the collapse of the Daily Voice hyperlocal enterprise and identifies some of the common causes of strife in the sector and what might address them. More than anything, Jarvis says, the ventures are trying to do too much, too soon, on scales that are not sustainable. While hyperlocal efforts will eventually take hold, he believes financiers need to place their efforts away from tools and grants and into consciously sustainable models --- even if they're small.

The Mr. Magazine vlog interviews Keith Kelly, the media reporter for the New York Post, on the biggest problem in media. His one-minute video concludes that advertisers don't know how to use digital properly yet.

media notes 13.02.13

2/13/2013

Some media stories of note for Wednesday, Feb. 13:

Cory Bergman, the general manager of Breaking News, has a five-point brief at Poynter today to accompany a live chat in which he asserts mobile will disrupt journalism in the same way the Internet did. He argues a mobile-first, not a mobile-too approach is necessary. In short, his points: responsive design is not a strategy; mobile will surpass, even erode, the desktop; desktop declines will hurt news revenues; news needs to solve problems; technology companies are getting the mobile-first idea.

Matthew Ingram, writing in GigaOm, reports on the social network and hyperlocal site Nextdoor and its efforts to build an exclusive, verified service for specific neighbourhoods. He identifies the differences between Nextdoor and some other, more open hyperlocal services, and cites the closed nature of Nextdoor as one of the keys to its possible success.

Time Warner appears to be ready to sell portions of Time Inc., according to Fortune. A meeting today will pursue the matter. It is possible that such titles as People, Real Simple and InStyle would be rolled into a new firm and sold, leaving Time Warner with Time, Sports Illustrated and Fortune. The publishing division is substantial, with $3.4 billion in revenue.

Jonah Lehrer, the author and literary journalist who was caught up in a plagiarism scandal last year, resurfaced publicly Tuesday to speak to the Knight Foundation (his speaking fee was $20,000). He apologized, but Andrew Beaujon of the Poynter Institute suggests Lehrer mainly stirred up more negative than positive response in a craft not quite ready to forgive and forget.

Knight Foundation's J-Lab on what works for hyperlocal news sites

9/30/2010

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.

New Voices: What Works

Sarah Hartley of The Guardian: It's time to rethink hyperlocal

8/26/2010

The term "hyperlocal" suggests several things: Very granular content on specific places, aggregated content that depicts a new local picture, or subject matter or content that deals with geographic organization, among them. Sarah Hartley, who runs the city blogs for The Guardian, thinks we need to reconsider the term.

She thinks it's more about an attitude than about geography. She's identified 10 features of hyperlocal:

1. The author's participation.
2. The blurring of opinion and fact.
3. The community's participation.
4. Small in scale but large in impact.
5. Medium-agnostic.
6. Obsessive.
7. Independent.
8. Link-loving.
9. Passion.
10. Frugal and economically fledgling.

Are there others? What do you think?

University-based journalism: A proposal

8/28/2009

Inside Higher Ed offers an idea to fill some of the gap created by the loss of voice in some markets: Models based on the expertise in universities or related institutions.

The academic blogger. Campus-based ventures for local and regional news. Undergraduates serving as reporters. Land-grant approaches to funding. Tapping into the constellation of entities (galleries, museums, and the like) associated with the university.

All are put on the table as possibilities in this intriguing approach.

"If these trends continue, the public affairs that most nearly touch our everyday lives -- school board elections, library censorship battles, state bond issues, social service regulations, land development schemes -- will become veiled from public discussion," writes David Scobey. "Those with power will have a powerful incentive to inside dealing and corruption; those without it will have a powerful inducement to acquiescence."

How mainstream media can partner with hyperlocal media

8/26/2009

The announcement this week of a deal between the Seattle Times and a batch of local neighbourhood blogs is an indication of the change under way in news.

Only a couple of years ago, a deal like this would have been unthinkable for either party --- the legacy media wouldn't have deigned to open themselves to the hyperlocal parties, and those parties would have found it suffocating to play with the Goliaths.

Mutual interests have emerged: legacy media want the granular coverage, hyperlocal media need the larger impact to generate a better business model.

The nature of the deal is lacking in financial specifics. It's all about exploring advertising opportunities, collaborating on content, exchanging links and audiences, and agreeing to examine the common opportunities.

But it's an interesting model for others to study. Seattle is one of the strongest examples of a market able to pursue such a deal, but there are others near and far.

Hyperlocal news: How should it be measured?

8/22/2009

It has been a busy week in the world of so-called hyperlocal news.

The Washington Post closed LoudonExtra.com, its major initiative into neighbourhood news. Everyblock, tne exceptional technological platform to examine what's happening on your street and in your midst, was sold to MSNBC. Huffington Post and Facebook worked through a new model of social networking that has strong local applicability. And a conference at the Aspen Institute discussed some business model proposals (largely shooting them down, which is the way critics typically work en route to acceptance).

Fast Company's Michael Gluckstadt chronicles the week that was and implies a more interesting question toward the end of his piece. He suggests hyperlocal ought not be judged as some sort of saviour of journalism, but as a model on ints own that contributes to the broader public sphere.

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