Do hyperlocal sites get taken seriously by local Governemt?

By Bob Toovey - 23 October 2009

A lot of talk about Citizen Journalism is confined to the big sites that has many authors covering a wide range of topics, the Huffington post is a good example. It covers the big issues as detailed by CJ authors. What really interests me is the hyper local sites that cover tiny areas, street level of a couple of square miles, the ones that have a big local audience but are tightly focused.

However that is not with it's problems. The BBC has a good article about the relationships between hyperlocal sites and press offices of local Government. Most of the hassle they face is down to credentials and being taken seriously.

From The fight for a right to report...

One difficult step those fledgling reporters will have to take is handling the relationship with the press officers and media relations teams at their local council.

Mr Hawkes, from The Lichfield Blog, said it had an "fantastic" relationship with local press officers but said it took work to get to that point.

"It's in the way you approach them," he said. "You need to know the pressure they are under as a press officer and what they can or cannot provide you with."

Leave a comment

Name (required)

Email (not displayed but required)

Website (ensure it starts with http://)

Comment (obviously required!)

please enter the word that you see

HTML is currently not allowed. Your email address will not be displayed but if you provide a web address it will be enabled. Please stay on topic and no blatant advertising!