The crisis in local news, and what community journalism can do to

help…

(#HerefordHyperlocal)

Andy Williams (Cardiff University, @llantwit)

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)

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/

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

Why does this matter? Media Wales

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

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

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• This subsidy has now been completely withdrawn in some places, and in others it is in the process of disappearing.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”

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?

Consumption of Local News in the UK

Source: Communications Market Review, OFCOM 2012

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

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).

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

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