Welcome to the corner-wide web
If your local newspaper shuts down, what will take the place of its coverage? Perhaps a package of information about your neighborhood, or even your block, assembled by a computer.
A number of Web start-up companies are creating so-called hyperlocal news sites that let people zoom in on what is happening closest to them, often without involving traditional journalists.
“Hyperlocal” news upstarts present a clear opportunity for a print partnership in the digital sphere. It is a semi-well known fact that most news consumers trust their local news over regional and national outlets. This endeavor shifts that trust — and the trusting readership — online.
However, traditional media continues to interact with new media as a threat and foe — considering content control and regulation in order to leverage lost profits. These next-gen journalists have no qualms about venturing ahead without print.
But many hyperlocal entrepreneurs say they are counting on a proliferation of blogs and small local journalism start-ups to keep providing content.
“In many cities, the local blog scene is so rich and deep that even if a newspaper goes away, there would be still be plenty of stuff for us to publish,” said Mr. Holovaty of EveryBlock.
Watch this space: this is where the seeds of cyber-based news as a signpost medium are being planted … this will set the stage for the transition of traditional media into the digital space — or the end of corporate print-based media as we know it
(The) Epochauserie 