Where is the logic in cutting local news resources first from the newspaper's budget? Not only has it become clear that smaller, more specific niche markets are all the rage in online and print media, but local news is by far the most practical way to maintain a local readership.
Curiously enough, as newspapers cut local coverage, they also eliminated foreign and even out-of-town bureaus in favor of wire news--a valuable resource for papers that also shares some of the blame for turning national and international coverage into a commodity. Most mid-sized city papers have pulled their state capitol correspondents. Elizabeth Becker of the New York Times is part of the rare species of foreign correspondents. She spoke to Norm Lewis' Problems and Ethics in Journalism class on Thursday, and even within her expansive international focus, she said the most effective way to illustrate a broad concept is to focus on one locality that is greatly affected by an international issue.
This theory easily applies to the coverage of local news, and it seems to have just dawned on newspapers that hyperlocal coverage does not have to be relegated to high school sports stories and lost cat ads. It's a way of satisfying the news needs of a specific region or group of people while contributing to the overarching goal of complete coverage.
Bloggers were two steps ahead. They now set the standard for local coverage, and papers like the Seattle Times, the Miami Herald and the Chicago Tribune are figuring out ways to incorporate blogs, social media and citizen journalism into their news reach.
The debate over whether journalism is trade or art, learned or innate, product or service has become moot in the face of financial struggles and an overabundance of outlets. But that doesn't keep those who have given their lives to the industry from casting a leery eye at the carpet store owner who just feels like becoming a journalist one day. Are drive and curiosity more important than knowing about inverted pyramid and nut graphs? Can citizen journalists be trained in five steps? Does spelling matter? Should we simply turn the other cheek when we see a question lead or unnecessary use of exclamation points?
These issues may arise mainly when the news organization is structured in a wiki or semi-wiki--meaning user generated but approved by an editor, such as triblocal.com--format. However, as the Seattle hyperlocal blog community proves, many "citizen" journalists are actually professionals in disguise. Whether they wrote for their college newspaper or they have 30 years experience in the field, many local bloggers have attained the same level of professionalism as any AP Stylebook-beating print copy editor. They see blogs as a viable option not only for creating a cheap and reliable source for neighborhood residents, but also for creating civic engagement on a micro scale, which could lead to important changes and increase government accountability. Some sites spark this engagement with an unconventionally wry tone and an emphasis on opinion, while others aim to be the anti-media by vowing to circumvent the traditional relationship newspapers have with the government in the name of protecting "constitutional freedoms."
On a side not, one of my complaints in a previous blog was that there is an absence of consolidators, or directory sites that aggregate and organize the plethora of useful Web sites out there. KCNN.org has filled that void, at least in regards to hyperlocal news sites. Hopefully more will follow and the great abyss will become more accessible and user friendly.
