Presented on 4/27/13 at the Society of Professional Journalists Regions 5 & 7 spring conference, St. Louis.

1. HYPERLOCAL
NEWS: BACK TO
THE FUTURE
HOLLY EDGELL
COMMUNITY EDITOR, WCPO DIGITAL - CINCINNATI
APRIL 27, 2013
SPJ REGIONS 5 & 7 SPRING CONFERENCE, ST.
LOUIS

2. BEAR WITH ME…

3. WHAT DO WE MEAN
BY HYPERLOCAL?
• News & information about your
town, neighborhood, community
• schools, municipal government,
events, real estate, sports,
hobbies, jobs, people,
development, sports, police, fire
• “Bread and butter” news

4. WHAT ELSE DO WE
MEAN?
• Your town, neighborhood,
community
• Voices (blogs, OpEd,
comments)
• Social media

5. WHO’S DOING IT?

6. WHO’S NO LONGER
DOING IT?
2007-2013
2010-2012
2009-2012
MORE HERE

7. WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
For communities
• As a source for news and information “where you
live”
• As a watchdog on institutions out of the eye of
larger news organizations
• As a “place” where people can connect; share
info; find support
• Breaking & continuing news from the “front lines”
where the story lives
• Newtown, CT Patch “Sandy Hook” coverage

8. WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
For local government, organizations &
institutions
• As a platform for disseminating emergency
information; alerts, announcements
• To publicize resources and support
• A means of getting news coverage that may not
be “big enough” for other media outlets

9. WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
For locally owned businesses
• Cost-effective advertising options
• Targeted advertising
• Connecting with customers as neighbors who
share a community
• A means of getting news coverage that may not be
“big enough” for other media outlets

10. THE VIEW FROM 2009
From FastCompany.com (9/09)

11. PAYING FOR IT
• Advertising
• Paywall
• Premium content for members
• Crowd funding
• Grants
• Investors

12. LOCAL ONLINE
ADVERTISING (2012)
• Legacy local media companies still control 92% of all
advertising, including half of all locally spent online
advertising.
• Borrell forecasts 18% overall growth as local online
advertising goes from $15.7 billion this year to $18.5
billion.
• That share is starting to grow, at the expense of local
pureplay Internet companies.
• Mobile advertising (smartphones and tablets), will
push the total expenditure to more than $26 billion by
2016.
Source: Borrell Associates (2012)

13. THE VIEW IN 2013
Chris Tolles, quoted in StreetfightMag.com (4/22/13)

14. WCPO DIGITAL AND
9 ON YOUR SIDE
• Channel 9 Broadcast coverage area:
• Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky,
Southeastern Indiana
• ABC Affiliate
• Owned by Scripps Media

15. HOW WE DO LOCAL &
HYPERLOCAL
“Newsroom within a newsroom”
LEGACY (TV) + DIGITAL (3 screens) + SOCIAL
1. Original “digital-first” beat reporting
2. Broadcast & web staff collaboration
3. Freelancers
4. Journatic
5. Social

16. WHERE ARE WE
GOING?
Mike Fancher, former editor of The
Seattle Times in StreetFightMag.com
(4/19/13)

17. RESOURCES
 StreetFightMag.com covers hyperlocal
news
 Columbia Journalism Review has a
hyperlocal news directory at CJR.og
 HollyWorld (my blog): Hyperlocal
journalism: Too important to fail (2/11/13)
 Find this slideshow
 Let’s connect on Twitter! @hollyedgell