Berkeleyside - Hyperlocal news site - Dec 2015

http://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/winter-2015-breaking-news/berkeleyside-nimble-hyperlocal-news-site-winning

"The community was reporting on itself, and we were live-blogging. We can be spontaneous and react to a situation."

In fact, it’s what many consumers now expect - news that appears almost instantaneously, as events unfold at home or across the world.

For this type of news, do the professional journalists also provide context, analysis, etc?

Even for a live event, the so-called reporting by the journalists can contain factual errors. Are consumers interested in correct news or instant news?

Most now read news on computers or mobile devices, a trend that, if you’re not part of, you’ve noticed whenever you ride a bus or wait in line.

They are probably reading and posting to Facebook. I suppose that it could be "news" at Facebook, especially now with FB's Instant Articles.

“The really big guys and the tiny guys who have a circulation of 50,000 and below are doing well, but that leaves out most of the metro dailies, who are not doing well,” says Jan Schaffer, executive director of J-Lab, a research center at American University that studies and funds new approaches to journalism. “They have lost their portfolio. They are not covering hyperlocal news or international news.”

Back in 2006, I spoke with Jan Schaffer through email about hyperlocal-focused websites, such as my message board ToledoTalk.com.

• http://www.j-lab.org/publications/citizen-media-fad-or-the-future-of-news
• published in Feb 2007
• http://kcnn.org/reports/citizen-media-fad-or-the-future-of-news/
• http://www.j-lab.org/_uploads/publications/citizenmedia.pdf

In this new climate, digital sites are scrambling to fill the gaps. Some pick niche topics—the environment, public health, or education—and others, like Berkeleyside, are hyperlocal, focusing on the ever present appetite for community news.

I like those ideas. I wish that I had the gumption to start a locally-focused, digital-only media org that would focus less, however, on breaking news and focus more on long-form analysis of local issues with short articles or notes posted more often. Long articles posted less often and short posts or notes posted more frequently. Notes could become articles at some point.

There are hyperlocal nonprofits and for-profits, although this category is confusing because the for-profits, such as Berkeleyside and San Francisco’s well-regarded Mission Local, don’t make much profit, while some nonprofits are generously funded. What they have in common—and this they share with old-fashioned print journalism—is the search for a sustainable business model.

“Six years ago, we wrote when we felt like it,” recalls Knobel. “We didn’t think it would take over our lives and be a big thing. It was the reaction to the low-key casual approach that convinced us there was something more there. People would find us, and say, ‘It’s so great. It’s so needed.’”

Slowly they ramped up coverage. They went to city council, school board, police and planning board meetings, often finding themselves the only journalists in the room. The depth and seriousness of their stories increased, as did their technical and business skills.

The site, which posts about 30 to 40 stories a week, has grown its own personality and regular features—a photo asking “Where in Berkeley?”, a food section called Nosh, a crime round-up, and editorials. It shares content with the San Francisco Chronicle and KQED, and links to other media stories about Berkeley.

The founders still take virtually no salary, although they are hoping that will change as membership (now at 1,000), ad sales, and attendance at sponsored events rise. Last year, the site’s TED-like event, Uncharted: The Berkeley Festival of Ideas (“Don’t call it a conference; that’s boring,” says Knobel) drew 400 people.

“But it’s fun,” says Dinkelspiel, who usually gets up at 6 a.m. to check wire stories and writes from four to five posts a week. “I’m still working as a reporter, and we get to make a difference.”