sarah hartley's Library tagged news →  View Popular, Search in Google

Start a hyperlocal website. There is a market for it especially if local newspapers are failing to provide decent coverage for their area. There is a growing online audience and the overheads and start up costs are virtually nil. However you do need to be prepared to work for free in the beginning, you do have to have some business sense and you need to be able to think beyond display/classified adverting models.

These news gaps include Port Talbot, a 50,000-strong community in South Wales which has been without a local newspaper since 2009 when the Port Tablot and Neath Guardians were both closed by Trinity Mirror.

While Port Talbot continues to be covered by regional daily – the South Wales Evening Post – it no longer has the in-depth coverage offered by its own title.

Which is why I’m cheekily changing the headline on this story. In the hyperlocal interconnected world, success can come in many shapes and isn’t necessarily measured in ad revenues.

For journalists contemplating creating a media company (like our MJ Bear Fellow Laura Amico), the possibilites feel limitless — until you hit your first cash crunch. Journalists are in a particularly difficult position. Serving the public is not lucrative, and the way the industry has made money in the past is entering a free fall. A recent report from the Project for Excellence in Journalism noted that while digital represents the future of the industry, the present is grim with seven dollars in print revenue lost for every digital dollar gained.

Check out this video from Inc. on seeking investments, and pay special attention to what investors are looking for. The world of journalism and the world of startups may be galaxies apart, but it’s becoming clear to everyone that an ad-based model is a flawed model.

According to a study by Oliver and Ohibaum, 68% of UK consumers source news content online compared to 75% from TV and 54% in newspapers.

But though only 3.8% pay for online news, the percentage of users paying for content increases on mobile (9%) and tablet (19%).

The Journalism Foundation is launching with two initiatives to show the scope and range of its work. The Foundation, in partnership with the department of journalism at London’s City University, is establishing the first practical training courses for journalists in Tunisia, teaching local journalists how to report in a free and open society.

The second project sees The Journalism Foundation supporting a grass roots website in an effort to increase interest in local politics in the British town of Stoke-on-Trent. The site, Pits n Pots, was set up in response to a lack of coverage of local council matters, and the Foundation is supporting its development with the aim of bolstering public engagement in the area.