Discourses of Enterprise in Hyperlocal Community News in the UK. (17th February 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Harte, Dave; Turner, Jerome; Williams, Andy
• Is Part Of: Journalism practice. Volume 10:Number 2(2016)
• Page Start: 233
• Page End: 250
• Publication Date: 2016-02-17
• Subjects: business -- citizen journalism -- community media -- entrepreneurship -- hyperlocal -- journalism; Journalism -- Periodicals; 070.405
• DOI: 10.1080/17512786.2015.1123109
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1751-2786

Abstract

Abstract : In recent years, a new wave of hyperlocal community news websites has developed in the United Kingdom (UK), with many taking advantage of new opportunities provided by free open-source publishing platforms. Given the trend in the UK newspaper industry towards closure and retrenchment of their local and regional press titles, it is perhaps understandable that policy-makers have shifted their gaze to these sites. This article examines the viability of hyperlocal news services with a particular focus on those that are independently owned and managed. Such operations often have a longevity that sits in contrast to a number of failed attempts by major media organisations to operate in the hyperlocal space. Yet many of the business models that underpin these sites seem precarious, often benefiting from a degree of self-exploitation. Drawing on 35 interviews with hyperlocal news publishers from across the UK, this article argues that publishers draw upon a civic discourse in order to make sense of their practice. This framing may limit the potential to develop economic sustainability and risks alienating policy-makers keen to work with an idealised "fictive" hyperlocal entrepreneur.