TNTJ February: The value of hyperlocal to young journalists
TNTJ officially relaunches today and over the next month we’ll be asking contributors to look at hyperlocal journalism.
We are doing so in conjunction with Wannabe Hacks, who are running a hyperlocal-themed week starting today.
Independently-run, hyperlocal news sites are becoming an increasingly influential part of the local media landscape, with some completely outstripping their traditional media rivals in the use of new tools and technologies to reach their audience and cover events.
They are also turning into a valuable proving ground for student journalists.
We’re not setting a rigid debate topic this month, but instead opening the floor to whatever you want to write about hyperlocal. Feel free to respond directly to others’ posts or take your own tack.
A few points you might think about addressing:
What’s more important to you? Will experience working on a hyperlocal site stand you in better stead for landing that first job in journalism than a good result in your degree?
Where’s the money coming from? Can hyperlocal sites exploit business models that local newspapers are ignoring?
What’s in a word? Is the term hyperlocal a useful one, or does it just confuse the issue?
The TNTJ blog is an opportunity for journalists under 30 – students, staffers or freelancers – to post or cross-post their thoughts on a different area each month and contribute to a conversation about the future of our industry. A conversation among the people who will be an integral part of that future.
Feel free to copy posts from your own blogs, or post what you write for TNTJ anywhere else. TNTJ is run on a simple WordPress blog.
If you’re are already registered with TNTJ you can simply log in here, or follow this link to register.
February 1st, 2011 at 2:53 pm
As a person who decided against undertaking a degree I feel the likes of hyperlocal journalism to be of tantamount importance. It evidences hard work and talent at least as much as taking a degree, and allows once to acheive much more by way of direct experience and life skills than lectures or seminars.
Money is as yet a question mark for modern, online journalism. For now I feel the objective should be to cover the hosting and design costs of the hyperlocal websites rather than the time of the contributors. Often viewing numbers/traffic of these websites means monetary recompense is unrealistic for each contributor.
Hyperlocal as a word is somewhat annoying to me personally, as it seems to venture too close to buzzword territory. It largely describes what papers printed back in the day prior to the corporate buyouts and PA wire expansion. However as a summary term it can be useful.
Pete, editor at Dirty Garnet.
February 27th, 2011 at 4:56 am
The topic of hyperlocal news got me thinking about the element of proximity in news writing. People always search for relevance, interest, and usefulness. I think this is why hyperlocal news succeeds.
If an event is happening in someone’s own backyard, then they are more inclined to find out more about it. I’ve had the opportunity to work on some hyperlocal news. It gives a young journalist the opportunity to get his/her feet wet by going after the story.
Most young journalists will not have the opportunity to travel to abroad to get international news firsthand like more seasoned journalists. However, traveling through one’s own local area can provide more stories that your audience will find relevant, interesting, and useful.