Over the last few years many local newspapers have been dismantled due to lack of advertising, dwindling print subscribers and the fact that many now go to the web for news. In St. Petersburg we are lucky enough to have the rock that is The Tampa Bay Times. Many Communities are not as lucky and are finding them selves with very little local coverage.
One way the industry is trying to fight back is by adopting the hyper-local or community news model. Sites like AOLs Patch and EveryBlock Set up shop and report on what's going on in a very small area of operation.
Although there is no EveryBlock for St. petersburg there is a Patch for Old-Northeast / Downtown St. Petersburg that reports on local happenings in that area. Patch and the hyper-local model are not the only show in town though.
Community news sites like I Love the Burg and New Roots News have created an alternative to the "big box hyper-local news" with a more community driven ideals.
The New Roots News, Contribute event series has opened the door for many aspiring writers in the area, including myself. The last one held on saturday continued the tradition of embedding local news sources inside the community by becoming a major force within them.
I think community news is a fantastic idea, embracing the local community by embedded contributors within them is a exciting way to create a real connection with readers and to strengthen community relationships. These sites are popping up all over the place from small to large cities.
Still i must ask the question Is it journalism? Can community news have as much impact as the local paper?
I'm not really sure.
Although I very much support community news and am a contributor my self I feel that "big box" sites like Patch still have a place in local news. Being an outside entity from the community and even the fact that most hyper-local sites like Patch are essentially looking to make a buck, lets them step outside the community and report on the happenings of the area. This means things that are not driven by the community, like crime and cityhall reporting. It's not easy to find someone to sit in on city council meetings or read though police reports for no pay.
Since sites like patch are profit driven they are giving young journalist a way to make a few bucks and gain professional experience. Before the internet took over, journalist would get their start on the police beat, reporting on the board of education or covering cityhall. For profit hyper-local sites are once again creating these opportunities. I hope to see more of them pop up, because quite frankly the time were I am going to be attempting to make a living off my writing will be coming up sooner than I would like.
Community news is a fantastic place for feature stories, restaurant reviews, event listings and fantastic resources to figure out what to do this weekend. They don't do a very good job of reporting about the robbery in my neighborhood or about the city council meetings. Not to say that all for profit hyper-local sites are doing a good job at this either but at least they have the capital to pay people to do it.
In a world where the local newspapers are getting closer to their expiration date than many in the journalism community would like, any new form of local news, is good news. Both community news and large news organisations, profit and not-for-profit both have a place in the future of local news. Finding a balance between the two can create a rich local media market for areas that are lacking in coverage and become job creators within the profession of journalism.
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