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14 Apr 09

‘Hyperlocal’ Web Sites Deliver News Without Newspapers - NYTimes.com

www.nytimes.com/...13hyperlocal.html - Preview

future of news hyperlocal web newspapers

A number of Web start-up companies are creating so-called hyperlocal news sites that let people zoom in on what is happening closest to them, often without involving traditional journalists.
- As the saying goes, "Lead, follow or get out of the way."
  If news organizations don't lead on the web, others will...and they'll bypass newspapers. - on 2009-04-14
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The sites, like EveryBlock, Outside.in, Placeblogger and Patch, collect links to articles and blogs and often supplement them with data from local governments and other sources.
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- The news business “is in a difficult time period right now, between what was and what will be,” said Gary Kebbel, the journalism program director for the Knight Foundation, which has backed 35 local Web experiments.
- One problem is that the number of readers for each neighborhood-focused news page is inherently small.
- One of the most ambitious hyperlocal sites is EveryBlock, a six-person start-up
- Backed by a $1.1 million grant from the Knight Foundation, it has created sites for 11 American cities, including New York, Seattle, Chicago and San Francisco.
- In some ways the environment is right for these start-ups.
- Unlike most hyperlocal start-ups, Patch, based in New York, hires reporters. It was conceived of and bankrolled by Tim Armstrong, the new chief of AOL, after he found a dearth of information online about Riverside, Conn., where he lives. Patch has created sites for three towns in New Jersey and plans to be in dozens by the end of the year.
  One journalist in each town travels to school board meetings and coffee shops with a laptop and camera. Patch also solicits content from readers, pulls in articles from other sites and augments it all with event listings, volunteer opportunities, business directories and lists of local information like recycling laws.
- One hurdle is the need for reliable, quality content.
- many hyperlocal entrepreneurs say they are counting on a proliferation of blogs and small local journalism start-ups to keep providing content.
- “In many cities, the local blog scene is so rich and deep that even if a newspaper goes away, there would be still be plenty of stuff for us to publish,” said Mr. Holovaty of EveryBlock.