Declining legacy media seriously affects local journalism in Sweden. Since 2004, nearly every second local office for local newspapers has been closed, and local coverage is diminishing. In a parallel development, new types of hyperlocal media are growing, according to a national mapping of local media ecologies. The study presented here is based on two surveys: one of local municipalities and one of independent hyperlocals. The key question is: are hyperlocals filling the gap? In many cases, the motivation behind new hyperlocal media has been discontent with declining media coverage from legacy media. In general, however, the pattern is more complicated; most hyperlocals grow in places where legacy media is also present. The main conclusion is that hyperlocals are only partly filling the gaps from declining legacy media, while parts of Sweden are becoming “news deserts.” Another important result is that hyperlocals are developing both in print and online, often in combination, to create a sustainable business model.
This study investigates how hyperlocal entrepreneurs interpret and undertake the role of accountable journalism, but it still acknowledges the many roles hyperlocal news may hold in a local community. The analysis is built on the approaches within this group toward (1) business and (2) journalism. The findings suggest that the focus of (A) nonprofit/nonprofessional could be to mirror community events, often as a "positive" counter-image. Within (B) nonprofit/professional, interrogative reporting could be viewed as a contribution to the common good. Niches of news alerts and partnership content are found within (C) for-profit/nonprofessional, while a full news standard is the (struggling) ambition within (D) for-profit/professional. The argument can be made that a deeper understanding of how media accountability can be addressed and/or promoted in this diverse sector of scarce resources is a vital question for policymakers, educational institutions and the publicas well as for the future of local journalism.
This article examines motivations, rewards and strategies in hyperlocal news entrepreneurship. The material is an interview study with eight entrepreneurs who independently own and manage hyperlocal news sites in Sweden. The conclusion is that the means of the hyperlocal entrepreneur both motivate and create an obstacle for growth. The findings of struggling business models, self-exploitation and civic motivations correspond with previous research in different countries, but alternative perspectives are suggested drawing from theories of entrepreneurial passion and processes. Civic motivations can be viewed as part of entrepreneurial passion, and the precarious nature as a low-risk effectuation process. The effectuator explores possible outcomes of given means and builds the business by controlling the affordable loss rather than calculating the possible return. Along with the obvious difficulty in finding a profitable business model when operating in a very small market, this implies a new perspective on failure and success in hyperlocal entrepreneurship, but also underlines that any measures of support for the sector need to be easily accessible for the individual entrepreneur.
This paper explores the implementation process of digital audience metrics as a key strategy in Swedish legacy news production during the last three decades. The historical adoption of metrics in the newsroom is not new but has grown fast (from analogue audience measurements in the 1950s and monthly statistics of unique visitors in the 1990s to a wide range of real-time data). This trend is important because Swedish news organisations have invested heavily in data analytics, which involves integrating metrics-driven journalism into a particularly strong and homogenous tradition of professional autonomy. Based on interviews with key senior managers and supported by the analysis of trade publications, as well as published interviews, the findings reveal three chronologically overlapping periods: the naïve stage of ‘getting online’, the destructive period of ‘social media prominence’, and the end of the ‘paywall hesitation’. This trend has led to a new equilibrium in which audience metrics are perceived as better aligned with the professional values of news selection. More importantly, the industry-wide embrace of metrics as guidance for more relevant and rational news production revolves around two main factors: First, although metrics are tied to organisational targets, they remain under editorial control. Second, the degree of granularity and diversification of metrics allow for wider support of their use for strategic purposes.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.