347 / 658
345
Thursday, November 10
0 9 : 0 0 – 1 0 : 3 0
PP 013
Hyperlocals Moving into Journalistic Maturity or Redefining Local Journalism?
P. Bakker
1
, M. Van Kerkhoven
2
1
Technical University Utrecht, School of Journalism, Utrecht, Netherlands
2
Technical University Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
Can local online-only media develop a sustainable business model and move to a journalistic maturity phase? This is the question in the research we
conducted in The Netherlands, a market where traditional local print and broadcast media see their footprint getting smaller, and with a relatively high
number of local online-only media. In 2013 and 2015 we conducted a research to identify independent Dutch hyperlocals that provided their communities
with original news on a regular basis. The background of this study is that local journalism seems to belong to the first causalities of the diminishing foot‑
print of traditional media. Local daily and weekly newspapers close down or merge titles and editions, remaining titles see circulation going down. Local
broadcasters have always been a marginal media form in the Netherlands, radio is still their most prominent platform. Traditional local media seem to be
incapable of reaching a younger audience and develop a digital business model. No existing news medium has been left untouched by the digital revolu‑
tion. Users and advertisers increasingly turn to online platforms where competition is high and advertising rates are therefor low while the inclination to
pay for news is almost absent because free news alternatives are abundantly available. Traditional media struggle to make the switch to a predominately
digital future. Digital start-ups provide audiences with numerous innovative news and information platforms, often targeted at the younger generations.
The general picture of digital news might be confusing, but general ‘rules’might not be applicable to each section within the digital news and information
sector. Media differ in scale and scope. Global and national players targeting a well educated or niche audience might be more successful than media that
aim at a general public, in particular smaller local audiences. In two years we conducted a research to find hyperlocal media (media targeting one specific
geographical area like a municipality, town, village), map the development and assess their journalistic efforts. This last issue is the core of our paper as in
the first research in 2013 it became clear that hyperlocal media often use a totally different concept of ‘journalism’. They often define it in terms of serving
the community, filling a hole that traditional media don’t cover. Service seems to be more important than independent reporting and investigations;
business and journalism are not separated but are operated together. Content analysis and interviews on two dozen hyperlocals revealed that the sense
of community, being part of the community and serving the community was the main focus of these operations but also the key to their success in terms
of business and local presence.The business model of successful local media does not resemble that of traditional media.We usually found small operations
that relied for an important part on volunteers, freelancers and an extremely active social media following. People working for the hyperlocal often had no
connection with traditional journalism. We argue that the concept of journalism might have to be redefined when it comes to these new players.
PP 014
Participatory Action Research in Studies of Hyperlocal Media
A. Cepaite Nilsson
1
, E. Stur
2
1
Lund University, ISK, Helsingborg, Sweden
2
Mid Sweden University, MKV, Sundsvall, Sweden
News is under reconstruction, and reporting is being distributed across a greater variety of news organisations (Downie & Schudson, 2009). Hyper locals ap‑
pear often in discussion about the future of the news media and potential alternative models. Hyper local news has potential as drivers of civic engagement
(Metzger et al, 2011). Some media studies argues that by giving ‘ordinary’people access to media and other ICT, and encouraging them to create their own
local content, they are better able to become ‘active citizens’(Rodriguez, 2004). Engagement is one of the goals of hyper local media initiatives, but simply
creating an interactive site is no guarantee that participation of the community will take place. There is a strong need to analyse development of hyper local
news initiatives to better understand the needs of this sector, possibilities and challenges of collaboration between the community and media initiatives.
Scholars are conducting a re-examination of the theoretical and methodological foundations of the journalism (Franklin, 2014). The transformation of jour‑
nalism requires development of research methodology in media studies that focus more on community participation and dialogue. PAR is usually used as
a tool to engage people in complex settings involving multiple stakeholders. It draws inspiration from different disciplines, theoretical perspectives and
methodological approaches. PAR is expected to provide researchers and facilitators with a new approach to educational, workplace, community and public
engagement (Chevalier, J. M. & Buckles, D. J., 2013). Still, we need more experience of implementation of PAR in media studies in order to of discover and
reflect upon hyper local journalism practices in rural communities. Object of this paper is to discuss implications of participatory action research in journal‑
ism studies, particularly in Swedish hyper local journalism initiatives. In context of the current situation on the Swedish local media market and the devel‑
opment of hyper local news we aim in this paper to discuss the possible ways of implementation of participatory action research, as tools and processes
that are integrated into the development of media initiatives. PAR is designed to build the capacity of media initiatives themselves to monitor and evaluate
and consequently alter practices as part of their on-going development. In our comming study we seek out a number of places where news coverage is
poor or non-existing. We participate actively promoting the creation of news and information services through hyperlocal media entrepreneurship. We will
work with PAR, which means that we will be in place for longer periods, and actively participate in the staging of hyperlocal news agencies at the selected
locations. It also means that residents and aspiring entrepreneurs in the local media in these locations will be involved in the project to the news agencies to
be established and survive. The paper will discuss the practice and implications for wider use of PAR, with focus on practical research considerations: -What
challenges, limitations and possibilities can we expect of using PAR in hyper local media studies?