Hyperlocal and the Future of News Media

Last night I was flipping through channels and I happened to catch an interesting episode of Frontline on PBS.  This month they have been covering how news reporting has changed in the past few years.  While some of the story is definitely a rehash for people who are plugged into the Web 2.0 eco-sphere, there are some very interesting theories shared about the future of media coverage in this country by folks from Yahoo as well as Harvard.

News media really interests me coming from media relations prior to joining AOL/AIM in 1999.

Thanks to the internet, that the guy from Harvard roundly pans, you can watch this episode online via PBS.org.  In particular pay attention to chapters 19-21.

If you just want the summary, here are my conclusions from the newscast.  Mainstream media is going through a rapid decompression.  TV stations are hiring fewer field reporters or in some cases downsizing.  Newspapaers are definitely downsizing their print staff or in some cases shifting them solely to web duties.  Terestial radio is dying quickly because of satellite radio and internet streaming.  The web provides a low barrier to entry, but of course a low barrier to stop watching as well.  So while the Washington Post or NY Times has really embraced the new face of media by having bloggers and multimedia in easy to access locations, for the most part newspapers have been slow to react.

There are two undeniable facts, one is that newspaper advertising pays for the newspaper's content to be online.  Without subscribers paying the way, the NY Times would be a pay-for site.  The second fact is that without bloggers like DailyKos or vbloggers like Rocketboom major stories like the CBS falsifying documentation or breaking other news stories.

So how do newspapers and other media survive?  Well take the example of the St. Petersburg Times, from the Tampa, FL metro area.  The Times is owned by a non-profit, same with NPR, where they report news in an unbiased way where they do not have shareholders to answer to or agendas pushed by larger organizations.  Being a non-profit gives them flexibility to move their reporters around from physical format to digital format.  The other focus can be hyperlocal news.  The Washington Post can do a great job at national news, but they also do a top notch job on local issues.  They support this via blogs, news columns and Washington Post radio.  In fact they use these pieces interchangeably, where blog columns appear in print, or radio spots appear on their website.