Another day, another round of newspaper job cuts, but there are clear signs that the industry is beginning to work out a path through the gloom. About time, too.
Associated Northcliffe yesterday revealed plans for a new generation of hyperlocal newspaper websites, to be trialled initially in the South West.
They’ll feature a mixture of user-generated content (citizen journalism, essentially) and social networking software, to be overseen by “community publishers”.
Will it work? That’s the question. I deeply hope so, because the result would be ultra-relevant content, updated at any time of the day by people who truly know their patches. Whatever esle, it would herald a dramatic improvement on the wire copy inevitably reproduced across UK regional papers currently.
As ever, look to the States for inspiration and reassurance that this model can work. Check out Chi Town Daily News, EveryBlock, Outside.in and Patch.