Do hyperlocal community papers really work?

Hell, no need to be in bumfuck. I live in a town of 170,000. It's bordered by a town of 89,000 and another town of 90,000. But most of the residents here are from somewhere else (like me), or are only here temporarily because of their jobs. There's no need for them to give a shit about their community, because they either don't have roots here or they're not going to be here long enough to set up roots.

Hyperlocal doesn't make sense here, and it doesn't make sense in a lot of markets. But we try it anyway. I don't know why.

 

you're in an interesting spot, f_t, and I don't know what your solution is. but for non-dailies, the local concept pretty much works. there's no way that you can compete with the big boys and people can get that stuff elsewhere. the problem is finding what they can only get from you -- and then hoping that the value of that information is cost-effective for them.

we've run great stories that I'm not sure many people cared about, even if they read the piece. and we've run little brights on a pair of kids that caught a big fish and it gets emailed like crazy off the web and I hear the thing was cut out and is on the wall at the middle school. clearly, folks cared about that silly story. so, I guess, the trick is to find a balance.

 

Exactly. We're a microcosm of that. The world of journalism decrees that you must keep moving every few years to advance. You never really stay anywhere. If you do, you're branded a "lifer" at best and "dead wood" at worst, whether or not your work is valued. Beancounters say you can't stay too long because you'll earn too much eventually. Sorry, we just don't feel like paying you that anymore because we can replace you for much less.

Shit like this creates these soulless places where people don't care about what's going on around them because they know they'll be gone in a matter of time.

 

I guess it all depends on where you're from.
The local newspaper concept does work in some places - especially those places with high ownership rates and solid workforce.
In my part of NJ the local weeklies and the free monthlies that get delivered in the mail are doing better than the two main daily newspapers because of several factors, the primary one being they can charge less for advertising so advertisers go to a weekly instead of spending the extra money on a daily with a circulation of 57,000.
The local weeklies (I think one of them might be a twice a week) focus on the local issues, local sports, local restaurant reviews, etc. The national stuff/statewide stuff might be how a state/federal law is impacting the local community, a movie review, and small stuff like that. They capitalize on the belief that people are NIMBYs, care about the schools their kids attend and care about things that impact their property taxes and related to NIMBYs the quality of life in their community/property values.

So the local paper can work. These papers don't cover church picnics or pancake breakfasts (but if the group running one submits a picture of it they'll put it in). They focus on the local government and school issues, the local business issues, a local feature, etc.

 

You mean the newspaper does what it is supposed to do. Cover what matters and you can only get it from them.

 

i was at one for 4 years before i moved here. yes, they work. startup to just under 10K circ. best in state. gave the daily fits. if you have the right staff and passion, you flourish. anything less and you're wasting everyone's time and money.

but those 4 years from 2003-2007 were damn good up in the highlands.