Jtm-pnw-session-hyperlocal-journalism
What place does mass media have in hyperlocal journalism?
We identifed a host of the individual needs of mass media and hyperlocal journalism/ists side-by-side in an effort to see where there are opportunities for synergy.
The specifics will follow, but in summary, our group concluded that hyperlocal journalism can give mass media heart and mass media can give hyperlocal sites legitimacy. And by working together, both can become more sustainable.
What mass media can do
- Aggregate hyperlocal
- Trend-spotting by watching what's happening across a large number of blogs
- Have resources to do data-mining
- Ask for FOIA docs, do other heavy lifting small sites can't do
- Can act as a portal for hyperlocal
- Can work relevant links to hyperlocal into stories
- Should link, not "slurp" all hyperlocal content
- Killer app: ad share across blogs
- Sales staff to sell regional advertisers across local blogs
What hyperlocal can do
- First responder
- Connected to the community
- Can be the cell membrane between MM and hyperlocal
- Local check and balance
- Can do the local angle on a regional story
- Link to "big media" to drive page views to them
- Share photos/content
- Hyperlocal needs to make a living
Other observations
- Both can share photos/content
- Mass media starts big and links to local. Hyperlocal starts small and builds up.
We discussed having mass media coordinate hyperlocal sites to crowdsource stories to uncover trends and show the larger impact of stories, such as the impact of holes in the ground where developments have stalled in neighborhoods across the region.
MM and HL need to figure out a way to share revenue. MM can share journalism, sales experience, sell locally targeted ads. MM could provide a wire service, or at least a tip engine for HL.
