Retrieving and Repurposing: A Grounded Approach to Hyperlocal Working Practices through a Subcultural Lens

Abstract

The term ‘hyperlocal’ has become part of internet-era local news media vocabulary. In the UK, it symbolizes a twenty-first century style of community news provision which exists on the margins of the local media ecosystem. Mainstream media has lost traction in the ultra-local space, which has been increasingly populated by independent operators. This article proposes that independent hyperlocal publishing has borrowed elements from the mainstream, particularly the socially cohesive aspects. Applying subcultural theory to the working practices of 27 UK hyperlocal operators revealed that they were adopting a ‘make-do-and-mend’ bricolage culture (Lévi-Strauss, Claude. 1966. The Savage Mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press) which both retrieved and repurposed aspects of the mainstream (Hebdige, Dick. 2014. “After Shock: From Punk to Pornetration to “Let’s Be Facebook Frendz!!.” In Subcultures, Popular Music and Social Change. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing). Working practices and business practices once prevalent in the parent culture were at the heart of hyperlocal activities. When viewed as a news subculture, hyperlocal operators were found to be resistant to the mainstream parent culture, yet they retrieved and repurposed elements of it in their daily activities.