Print

Blog

ASNE Chat: The Hyperlocal News Model

ASNE's live chat on Tuesday, Feb. 21, which focused on the "hyperlocal" news model, featured an interesting mix of entrepreneurial proprietors of local websites and executives of news companies with national ambitions, like AOL's Patch. Click the link below to review an archive of the chat.

The news, information and advertising business is in search of a hyperlocal website model that works. Legacy news organizations want a simple, inexpensive content generation plan that drives revenue.

The want is simple; the solutions are not. There's the corporation model like AOL's Patch. Or the corporation-as-startup model like TBD.com. There are partnerships between the legacy newspapers and entrepreneurial local websites. There are "mom-and-pop" websites that serve specific audiences or geographies.

The success of each model appears to be less about the model and more about the execution. Strong leadership, smart strategic thinking and an old-fashioned willingness to get one's hands dirty are the drivers for successful entrepreneurial websites.

What obstacles do legacy media face that entrepreneurial startups don't — and what lessons can we learn?

Panelists
Scott Brodbeck, editor/founder, ARLnow
Rachel Fishman Feddersen, chief content officer, Patch
Debbie Galant, founder/co-owner, Baristanet
Carl Lavin, founding managing editor, Main Street Connect
Robert Niles, founder/editor, ThemeParkInsider.com
Laura Rich, co-founder/CEO, Street Fight

Host
Linda Grist Cunningham, proprietor, Key West Watch

Contributors