Local Blogging Networks

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/16/nyregion/blog-sites-sheepshead-bites-and-bensonhurst-bean-merge.html?_r=0

What makes their approach different, they say, has to do with providing service journalism at its most local: not only writing about crime, politics and local issues, the bread and butter of news, but also acting as cheerleaders and impassioned community advocates.

The blogs tell you when the local subway lines are not running; mount mini-campaigns to fix up playgrounds and traffic lights; and list ways for residents to contact elected officials and city agencies.

They cheer for the new restaurants spotted around the neighborhood, highlight local events and profile community notables.

Mr. Berke has devoted many posts to explaining how residents affected by Hurricane Sandy can apply for aid programs like Build It Back and for unemployment assistance.

“This is not a quick-money kind of business,” Ms. Zagare said. “It takes years to build up the trust of the neighborhood.”

Corner Media, which pays reporters a starting salary of $30,000 and charges from $250 to $400 a month for the most popular ads, has been breaking even, she said; Mr. Berke’s sites have been profitable, though he would not say by how much.

Ms. Zagare began a sort of mission statement that many of her advertisers, mostly mom-and-pop neighborhood businesses, could appreciate: “Local news is the local cheesemaker, sourced from local ingredients only. It’s artisanal, it’s handmade, it’s very local, it’s very labor-intensive. We don’t want to do it any other way.”

For her writers — there is an editor for each site — that means taking long walks around the neighborhood, chatting up the locals in coffee shops, attending community association meetings and, for the better-established sites, managing a constant stream of emailed, texted, tweeted or called-in tips — everything, said Mary Bakija, Corner Media’s managing editor.

Part of the reason local digital media can be a viable business is that local advertisers have become more willing to spend advertising dollars online, Mr. Smith said. “Obviously, digital media is coming of age nationally and internationally, and that is now happening locally,” he said. “Money is starting to shift online in a real way.”

Ms. Zagare and Mr. Berke have been juggling advertisements from local schools, salons, lawyers and restaurants as well as editing the sites. By working together, they hope they can sweeten the deal for advertisers, who will now reach many more readers, as well as devote more time to the sites’ reporting.

But the core idea — providing a local service, through local news, to the locals — will remain.

#local - #blogging - #media