citizen media update

(en route to Boston) My colleague Jan Shaffer has issued a report entitled “Citizen Media: Fad or the Future of News? The Rise and Prospects of Hyperlocal Journalism.” Her conclusions are based on detailed interviews with the people involved in 31 citizen news ventures, plus a survey of 191 other projects. “Hyper-local” news media represent alternatives to the increasingly homogeneous news business and provide opportunities (like nothing we have seen since the 19th century) for great numbers of people to produce news. These projects encompass websites, but also low-powered radio stations, email lists, and even some printed publications. They serve neighborhoods and small towns and dispersed affinity groups. They tend to combine some original information, some news selected from commercial sources, and some opinion and analysis.

I haven’t had the chance to read Jan’s important report all the way through, but I have skimmed it and highly recommend it.