hyperlocal community journalism slides
TRANSCRIPT
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The crisis in local news, and what community journalism can do to
help…
(#HerefordHyperlocal)
Andy Williams (Cardiff University, @llantwit)
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The Crisis in Local News• Newspapers have traditionally made money 2 ways:– By selling news to us (a bit)…– (But mainly) by selling our eyeballs to advertisers.
• But since the rise of the internet, we don’t want to pay upfront for news any more, and advertisers have found more lucrative markets (social media, search, etc)
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The scariest graph you’ll see today
Source: PaidContent.Org http://paidcontent.org/2013/04/11/two-charts-that-tell-you-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-future-of-newspapers/
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Print Versus Digital Advertising Revenue at Trinity Mirror Regionals Division
Source: Trinity Mirror Annual Accounts 2003-2010
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Print £'000
Digital £'000
000
000
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Why does this matter? Media Wales
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Why does this matter? Staffing Levels at Media Wales, 1999-2010
Source: Media Wales Annual Accounts 2000-2010
19992001
20032005
20072009
0100200300400500600700800
Editorial and Production
Sales and Distribution
Admin
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Why does this matter? Falling circulation at the Western Mail
Source: 6 monthly ABC circulation figures 2000-2011
Jan 00-Jun 00
Jan 01-Jun 01
Jan 02-Jun 02
Jan 03-Jun 03
Jan 04-Jun 04
Jan 05-Jun 05
Jan 06-Jun 06
Jan 07-Jun 07
Jan 08-Jun 08
Jan 09-Jun 09
Jan 10-Jun 10
Jan 11-Jun 11
0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
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Why does this matter? News and democracy• For most of the last century
the democratic functions of journalism were subsidised by commercial advertising.
• This subsidy has now been completely withdrawn in some places, and in others it is in the process of disappearing.
• Without someone to pay for these we’ll get less (and poorer quality) information, and less scrutiny of our elites
“I’m doing fine, but Clark Kent can’t find a newspaper that’s hiring”
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Hyperlocal news to the rescue?
But… the web has enabled a new generation of community-oriented news outlets producing “hyperlocal” news, which in the UK is little-understood but attracting sustained interest from the news industry and policy makers. Can it replace local mainstream news media?
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Consumption of Local News in the UK
Source: Communications Market Review, OFCOM 2012
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The value of hyperlocal: What gets covered?
n=1941
Top topics Freq. %
Community 252 13.0
Politics (Government) 227 11.7
Sport 224 11.5
Crime/Legal (Individual) 134 6.9
Business/ Industry 133 6.9
Environment/ Nature 109 5.6
Entertainment/ Leisure 98 5.0
• Geographically-focused, community-oriented form of local news… local clubs, societies, leisure time activities covered regularly• Lots of coverage of local politics – which is declining in mainstream press• Very little coverage of local political activism
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The value of hyperlocal: Who gets to speak?
n=1873
Top Sources Freq %
Local Politics 392 20.9
Business/ Commercial 268 14.3
Member of Public 233 12.4
Community Group 133 7.1
Police 114 6.1
Sportsperson 106 5.7
Culture/ Arts 102 5.4
• Some similarities with, and some differences from, the commercial local press…• Official sources in local politics, business, the police are still very important source groups…• But there’s much more of a voice for local people (members of the public, members of groups, clubs, and societies, etc).
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The value of hyperlocal: a plurality of perspectives?
• The number of sources cited was quite low (only around half of posts rely on sources, & only around a fifth cite more than one source)
• When secondary sources were cited, it was mostly to convey agreement, or to add context
• Disagreement between sources was only found in 3% of posts
• Could have implications for: transparency, plurality, and the quality of local public debate
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Can hyperlocal news dig us out of the local news hole?
• Content: community news can play valuable role in providing us with news about local community/cultural life and important local political issues
• Audiences: are significant, and seem to be growing (OFCOM data)
• Scale & Scope: in terms of replacing the news gathering & reporting capacity we’ve lost, community news is an important, but minor, player
• Sustainability: more research needed, but still no widespread business models.
• Legitimacy: Hyperlocals often lack institutional clout needed to produce oppositional news in the public interest