Towards a definition of "hyperlocal" news... to be determined

joniayn — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 15:53:34 GMT

With the unraveling of TBD.com came a camp of criticism from all sides. Most interesting -- to me -- was the label the site was branded: hyperlocal. Is a news organisation that covers the Washington D.C. metro area really hyperlocal?

Storified by joniayn · Thu, Oct 27 2011 14:24:52

The new news organisation launched by Allbritton Communications in 2010 was "to be determined". So much so, the website became TBD.com. Now that has all changed. Staffing cuts are imminent, which has led to a flurry of criticism. (See a few of the posts below.)

Reflections of a Newsosaur: Hyperlocals like TBD: More hype than hope

The rapid implosion of the high-profile TBD news site is further evidence that hyperlocal journalism is more hype than hope for the news business.Launched with considerable fanfare and generous funding only six months ago by Allbritton Communications, TBD was the latest effort in the nation’s capital to create websites filled with intensely local coverage that, it was hoped, would attract large and loyal followings. Instead, they cost a bundle and withered for lack of interest.Prior to TBD, whose staff and mission will be scaled back in, fittingly, a to-be-determined fashion, the two most prominent hyperlocal experiments in the District were...

Hyperlocal News Can’t Be Monetized And Other Lies You Heard This Week About TBD.com « Digital First

Success has many fathers but failure is always an orphan. And I would add to that old saw – failure is always something the experts predicted as they revel in their “I told you so” moments. Such is the case on the dismantling of the Jim Brady project that was TBD.com. Oh TBD.com is still on the web and it still has staff. It just isn’t the brilliant experiment that Brady and his team initially built for Allbritton Communications. And the idea that the company that green lit Politico.com dismantled TBD before it could walk and, by doing so, brand...

The most interesting thing to come out of this from my point of view is this idea that the demise of TBD.com is a harbinger of what faces all "hyperlocal" news organisations. But can a website that covers the Washington DC metro area really be considered hyperlocal?

Is @TBD really #hyperlocal? Washington DC metro area is a pretty giant patch.
— joniayn · Fri, Feb 25 2011 05:36:03

Why do I care so much about the definition of hyperlocal news? Well, I'm in the midst of a PhD looking at the people who make hyperlocal news. I'm calling them "hyperlocalists". So reaching a working definition is sort of something I need to figure out.

As much as I hate to see a concept like TBD fail, I couldn't be more delighted at the debate raised this afternoon on Twitter:

Advice: Any piece that refers to @TBD as a "hyperlocal" site is already so far off-base you shouldn't bother reading it.
— jeffsonderman · Fri, Feb 25 2011 06:51:01

TBD tells us nothing about "hyperlocal" because the term has been stretched past the breaking point. It means nothing.
— yelvington · Fri, Feb 25 2011 06:37:18

Yes! RT @jeffsonderman Any piece that refers to @TBD as a "hyperlocal" site is already so far off-base you shouldn't bother reading it.
— Judy_Sims · Fri, Feb 25 2011 06:57:48

@nici @jeffsonderman does hyperlocal have any meaning anymore? Just a buzzword...
— tbridge · Fri, Feb 25 2011 06:59:55

@Judy_Sims @jeffsonderman: I'm pretty sure I called it hyperlocal when I wrote about it -- why is that wrong?
— mathewi · Fri, Feb 25 2011 07:00:40

.@mathewi TBD is a regional news site with a hyperlocal section. But it's like saying it's a "sports" site b/c there's a sports section.
— jeffsonderman · Fri, Feb 25 2011 07:03:45

@mathewi @jeffsonderman Matthew, it is like covering the entire Bay area (San Fran, Oakland etc) and calling it "hyperlocal."
— Dan_Rowinski · Fri, Feb 25 2011 07:11:56

As a quick exercise, here's how hyperlocal @TBD is: http://imgur.com/II1IV I'd say that comes to about 5%, area wise.
— jeffsonderman · Fri, Feb 25 2011 07:20:27

@Dan_Rowinski @jeffsonderman: I think part of the problem is that the term "hyperlocal" has no real definition -- the meaning is fluid
— mathewi · Fri, Feb 25 2011 07:13:35

tbd.com - not a hyperlocal, not a failed experiment, just a retreat: http://bit.ly/dMV2xO
— CitizenWeber · Fri, Feb 25 2011 17:15:23

Hyperlocal = Local Right kids?
— drew_crothers · Fri, Feb 25 2011 17:17:28

This Twitter debate is but one sample of a debate over what constitutes "hyperlocal". In the academic world of journal articles and conference papers, David Kurpius, Emily Metzgar and Karen Rowley pose this definition:

"Hyperlocal media operations are geographically-based, community-oriented, original-news-reporting organizations indigenous to the web and intended to fill perceived gaps in coverage of an issue or region and to promote civic engagement."

See the abstract of the paper below:

Defining Hyperlocal Media: Proposing a Framework for Discussion

Although the word hyperlocal appears regularly in discussions about the future of the news media there is no agreed-upon definition for the term. Recognizing that shortcoming we demonstrate the need for a more precise definition. We then propose a definition and criteria for evaluating media operations described as hyperlocal. Finally we apply our working definition to six operations widely regarded as exemplars of the hyperlocal prototype comparing each to established standards of journalism and to one another. We conclude

Local TV talk blooms at #1000flowers conference

joniayn — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 19:06:56 GMT

Find out what happened at local TV conference, #1000flowers, in Norwich on Thursday 4 November.

Storified by joniayn · Tue, Nov 30 2010 00:01:51

joniayn · Storify

Towards a definition of "hyperlocal" news... to be determined

Local TV talk blooms at #1000flowers conference