Local web news manifesto

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Permalink Reply by Philip John on October 20, 2009 at 8:26pm

Here are the values that we've already drafted up for The Lichfield Blog;
- Independent of business, government, politics
- Community-focused
- Community-generated
- Impartial

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Permalink Reply by Ray Duffill on October 21, 2009 at 11:45am

Fantastic start. Simple. I suspect nobody would have problems signing up to this.

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Permalink Reply by David Wilcox on October 21, 2009 at 1:19pm

Excellent to see focus on the values rather than the tech. Just a thought - should we expect local web news services themselves to be transparent, participative, collaborative if they urge that on public bodies and others? As in, honest about their approach, ready to work with others ... or could that take the edge off provocative? Interesting to have anecdotes about how local web and local paper treat things differently, if they do.
Thanks for this great start Will.

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Permalink Reply by Martin Dudley on October 21, 2009 at 6:27pm

When we were planning community information systems in local government, we had a motto we used to sell the value of what we were doing, that they would be 'timely, accurate and relevant'.

a page here has relevance I think too.

I think the principles for 'news' may not differ in some respects from other types of online content.

I like 'playful' too - mocking, funny, witty, and lateral.

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Permalink Reply by clarewhite on October 22, 2009 at 12:16pm

I like all these points, though I might go further than 'not evil'. What about 'generous' ? And maybe as number 10: 'Obsessed', or maybe less scarily 'Persistent'.

Today I heard a tiny gem in a morning of too many presentations: that Japanese companies' vision statements are only two words, to be more easily communicated at every level of the organisation. Fujifilm's was said to be 'Kill Kodak'. So maybe we need to be even more concise?

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Permalink Reply by David Wilcox on October 22, 2009 at 12:25pm

Briefly: useful journalism, locally made?

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Permalink Reply by Jon Bounds on October 22, 2009 at 12:29pm

I like 'Transparent' in that it sort of implies honesty & truthfullness without imposing somewhat meaningless "impartiality".

What does "low cost" mean in different contexts?

I'd like to add in something I've always taken on board from Bill & Ted — in the spirit of community with both the community & other members of the local news scene —so, in the format above it would be: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVXGC896Jdw

10 - Excellent to each other

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Permalink Reply by william perrin on October 22, 2009 at 1:15pm

david - not sure it is journalism - that label comes with too much baggage.

people often say i am a new breed of journalist - i am wont to say that journalism was a set of skills, behaviours and often fetishes required to access bottlenecks such as printing presses, distribution mechanisms and transmitters. many of the skills are valuable, some of the things journalists do are wonderful, but many of the skills needed fell away as technology opened up the bottlenecks. And some things associated with journalism (celeb stalking, cameras up skirts, moir, news of the world etc - the things journalists from the most commercally successful publications do) have made it the least trusted profession in britain consistently in the past 20 years.

it isn't a label i am comfortable with to describe my activity to help communities. blogger isn't a great label either.

to print something i used to have to know about printing presses, ink, be in a union etc. now i just press print, it doesn't make me a printer. when i write and publish stuff it no longer makes me a journalist. the technology and processes hav moved on at the entry and middle levels.

all societys need people that hold power to account - the opportunity presents now to move beyond the old closed shop of journalism, keeping the most apposite past behaviours and give communities a voice of their own to help deterine their own future.

i tink we agree on all this but just differ over the word 'journalism'

cheers


w

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Permalink Reply by Ray Duffill on October 22, 2009 at 5:51pm

I like:

Persistent
Tranparent and Accountable
Community-generated, community-published

Advocates: I don't think that we will always play the "journalist" role, rather we will often be called upon to act on behalf of our communities?

Critical Friend: Of councils and other public bodies.

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Permalink Reply by David Wilcox on October 23, 2009 at 7:48am

Will - I'm with you on much of the anti-journo rant .... and believe that focussing on the bundle of current skills and values needed to do good stuff is what's important. I think we may be able to rehabilitate the honest trade of reporter though. How do others explain what they do? I'm at a conference with a group of media coaches - as I reported here. Not quite the community voice role, but better name for help than digital mentor.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Slee on October 23, 2009 at 7:46pm

Firstly, Will thanks for linking to my blog piece about hyperlocals and local government. This came out of the excellent Talk About Local unconference in Stoke recently. There, as here, I am more of an interested observer rather than a hyperlocal blogger myself.

As someone who started his career carrying pages of lead type on a hot metal newspaper and was a journalist before coming a local government press officer I suspect I have a different view point from most people who have posted a comment this far.

There. I've made it clear the perspective I come from.

Emminent former newspaper editor Harold Evans summed up where I stand quite well. "I'm in love with newspapers," he said. "But I'm absolutely intoxicated by the speed and possibility of the internet."

For what it's worth, I think you are spot on in coming at this from a manifesto point of view. It is needed. The brevity is also on the money.

While there is a clear debate here about the reputation of journalists and journalism don't be tempted to throw the baby out with the bathwater. There are plenty of skills reporters share with bloggers, citizen journalists or whatever way people may want to describe themselves.

For a start, there's that twitch of the nostrils that I used to think of as 'news sense' when I worked in a news room.

There were plenty of occasions at #TAL09 where I was reminded of my time as a reporter too. The founder of the Lichfield Blog talking about how when a fire engine went past he wanted to know where it went only to realise that local papers in his town didn't do it as well as they used to. There was the session that mentioned reviewing the school pantomime to attract through traffic. This is all basic stuff.

The one thing that does worry me though from a trained journalist's persepctive looking at the brilliant emerging craft of hyperlocals is the threat posed by media law. As they take on the territory abdicated by local newspapers this comes more and more into play. A working knowledge of defamation, rights and restrictions - or at the very least a back-up service provided via Talk About Local seems to me a must.

McNae's Essential Law for Journalists is an absolute lifejacket in this field. I can't praise it enough.

I know all too well that this raising of the legal issue flies in the face of the vibrancy, spirit and zeal that is the essensce of hyperlocals. I wouldn't want to see that diminish. There is so much to be excited about and we are at the start of something truly revolutionary. That's why I only tentatively suggest a 10th bullet point as being 'Legal.'

From a more prosaic perspective, I'd also suggest that the way to raise this with local government may be through the Local Government Association - the LGA - the umbrella group for local authorities. One for Will's talented group rather than individuals.

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Permalink Reply by Phil Green on October 24, 2009 at 10:04am

Hi Dan, thanks for raising the 'legal' issue.

Dan Slee said:

... at the very least a back-up service provided via Talk About Local seems to me a must.

...or signposting to what might already exist

Think actually helps very sensibly with vibrancy etc, if we're reassured there's a route to some back up help should any of us come to need it.

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