Living In Your Beat

This past week our Online Journalism class had a guest lecture from Barry Parr founder of Coastsider.com. His Web site is an example of a hyper local news site.

Parr explained that the area he covers, which is Half Moon Bay and the surrounding coast side region, is the perfect size for a hyper local news site. He mentioned that he has had success in this business and plans on refocusing his attention on breaking news in the area.

With so many newspapers struggling today, one might wonder if these sites might become a new trend. So many people are losing their jobs and the answer might rest in journalists actually living in their beat, breaking news online as opposed to publishing print editions.

There are tremendous strengths in this idea. Paper won't be wasted, people will have access to up to date news specifically for their local area and reporters will be needed to cover the information. Yet, there are drawbacks. The stress of a 24/7 constantly updating stories may be hard for even the most experienced teams of journalists to handle, and there is also the trouble of access for those that do not have a computer or Internet.

I find hyper local journalism to be very resourceful, especially for medium sized areas that are not often covered in mainstream newspapers. However, I do not believe that the creation of more of these sites will reduce the need for major newspapers, such as The New York Times or The LA Times. I do foresee the possibility of local weekly newspapers moving entirely online, creating their own hyper local news page, in order to cut costs and increase profit.

Parr brought forth a new wave of using the Internet at a local level. I feel that this type of journalism has the potential to bring communities together and incorporate audiences that may not be consumers of news otherwise.