The Hyperlocal In Practice

Abstract

Local reporting has become an endangered occupation. Print publications merge, close down or face budget cuts because audiences and advertisers move online. The result is that fewer journalists are covering local affairs. Online models could be expected to assume the role of traditional print and broadcast media as they are more flexible and cheaper to operate, especially in terms of production and distribution. In the Netherlands, we identified 123 hyperlocal news websites. We explored how they organized their business, how they were geographically distributed, what sources of revenues they relied on, and what their editorial strategy was. Data were gathered through content analyses of websites and interviews with owners. Results indicate that models are diverse, ranging from fully staffed operations to home-operated websites. Editorial and economic foci differ substantially. Offering local content is not the biggest problem. Many sites, however, underperform in terms of organization and revenues. Maintaining a site seems to be a bigger issue than launching it.