Micro Journalism

One of the possibilites in the development of journalism is refered to as Micro Papers.These are extreme localised newspapers concentrating on local news and carrying adverts for local businesses often concentrating on just a few streets or a neighbourhood.

James Robinson writing in Sunday's media Observer refers to a plan by Richard Addis former Express and FT executive who palns to launch such an enterprise in London's suburbs.

According to Addis:

"A daily equivalent would have very low advertising rates and production costs. It would also need far more content - but Addis claims there is enough news to fill it. 'There are the events the council or the police will tell you about and there are issues, like the local market being moved or parking restrictions being lifted.'
That could be compiled by one or two journalists, he argues, and the rest of the content would mostly be generated by readers.
'You could have a couple of local columnists and lots of content from pressure groups or local people who have got something to say. You get your customers working for you. They are your journalists and you have a couple of people editing it. You can do what the internet's so good at. There's an element of social networking.'

Robinson points out that this may well work a lot better on the Internet and cites examples from America such as outside.in

The trend for local news is growing in the Uk,the article also quotes from Tim Bowdler,cheif exec of Johnson Press who says,

'Demand from local communities has never been stronger.' Johnston launched about 50 community newsletters last year. 'They are typically monthly and distributed free to communities of 4,000-6,000 people.' They carry 'advertising for the local high street - the butcher and baker who wouldn't advertise in local papers because it's too expensive,'

Archant are another group that are going in this direction,their exec John Fry says

'There is definitely a trend towards localisation, and publishers will follow the market.
Everyone knows about the Palestinian crisis but they want to complement that with news about their own community. You don't need to go daily on the ultra-local stuff because most of the information isn't time sensitive and there's not enough to say.'