Traditional Media are Funny
by Matt on Jul 23, 2010 in Industry
It’s sometimes funny to watch/read the traditional media write about hyperlocal.
I’ve read TIME magazine’s article, Are Hyperlocals Replacing Traditional Newspapers?, a couple times now. It’s pretty good overall.
But I can’t not chuckle at the first paragraph on page two:
Most hyperlocal sites don’t have the budget for flashy graphics or searchable databases. Their content comes from observant neighbors (and local gadflies) who care about both large and small goings-on around town. Hyperlocal sites also frequently publish upbeat accounts of parades and high school sports, as well as information on which local vendors sell the best produce. Recent headlines on Record’s site noted a “mega-low” tide and an upcoming garden tour.
Hehehehe. It’s as if the writer is completely flummoxed over the possibility that people actually care about parades (BTW, have you ever attended a downbeat parade?), high school sports, local food/vendors, garden tours, and local weather conditions.
Funny.
By the way, the “Record” mentioned in that excerpt is frequent HLB commenter Tracy Record of the West Seattle Blog, who makes a few appearances in TIME’s article.
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Yeah, the end result was a little goofy, but I give the writer an A for effort (who knows how much was left on the cutting-room floor) – not only did he contact me several times for clarification and followups, he even posted in our forum to ask our ‘readers’ some questions. (He had first asked me if I would put him in touch with someone, and I said that didn’t feel right, to handpick someone for him to get a quote from, perhaps he could just post in the forum and see what happened.)
What still gets me stoked about this after three years of round-the-clock work is the fact that “news” does indeed have a broader definition than we gave it in the “old media.” When the tide is exceptionally low, in a coastal area like this, that IS big news, for example, and people not only descend on the beach to see what they can glimpse, they also thank us for the reminder – which more often than not resulted from someone sending e-mail or a tweet or FB note to remind *us*.
What didn’t get mentioned is something that at least did get touched on in a recent survey: The civic-duty aspect of this. So many of us at the major Seattle sites trawl the city council agendas looking for otherwise-buried items to surface, so that people at least have a fighting chance at having a say about something that stands to affect their lives. And the city Design Commission, and the Landmarks Preservation Board, and the Parks Board, and the dozen-plus community councils … Or the development notices that go up on signboards, with an impossibly imminent deadline for community comment. And so forth. Yup, some of it is pretty granular. And all of the people don’t care about all of our items all of the time. But at least they no longer have to wonder “Why didn’t somebody tell us?”