Living in the Boston area, I’ve been a witness to the evolution of hyperlocal news media.  In this area, we have (at current count) three solid hyperlocal news outlets, including my weekly town paper, a section or version of the Boston Globe owned paper and online newcomer Patch.  And in my town there is also an enterprising real estate agent who fills his time sharing town news and gossip.  All have Facebook and Twitter feeds to their news updates, of course.  Word has it that Starbucks will also be getting in the game with a “my neighborhood” channel on its free internet access. 

Why the war to provide town meeting updates, police blotter notes and high school sports updates? 

Well, from the traditional media’s perspective, it’s a way to enhance or expanding services with a new offering.  As print subscriptions have dropped off, newspapers are looking for ways to attract readers.

From newcomer Patch’s perspective, parent company AOL is going after the market very aggressively and sees hyperlocal news as a way to quickly and exponentially achieve brand exposure.

What other impact is this emphasis on hyperlocal news having?

It’s making the news more interactive. Hyperlocal offerings tend to leverage social media or at least offer discussion forums or comments (although sometimes they end up getting shut down…but that’s another topic for a different blog post)

It’s producing new content. A new report “New Voices: What Works” from J-Lab says that contrary to original intentions, citizen journalists are not a substitute for the loss of professional journalists, but they are creating lots of new content that didn’t exist before.  According to J-Lab, “they’ve done a bunch of other things as well: They triggered other news stories, helped solve community problems, imparted a lot of political knowledge that empowered voters, and engendered a new level of accountability for municipal leaders.”