This post is not about Murdoch

I want to talk about the future of newspapers and I promise not to mention Rupert Murdoch. You can read all about that here. I want to talk about an area of publishing that’s getting a lot less attention, but I think could play a pivotal part in the future of newspapers : local press. With the rise in citizen journalism, localisation of news is becoming increasingly important. This is where big publishers are losing out to social media, as news sources are increasingly crowd-sourced and we can find instant pictures and discussion of events online. But what about the local journalists?

In Socialnomics, Erik Qualman explores a scenario where a blogger in Idaho breaks a story about the local mayor ahead of the NY Times reporter, because of their physical location. This is a fair version of events that I’m sure is played out all over the world every day. But it completely overlooks the role of regional media, particularly local newspapers. There is a massive opportunity for local papers to adopt social media tools and make a real play for the big publisher’s stronghold on the news industry. I want to make it clear here that I think the opportunity  lies in regional news outlets becoming more of a social experience. I’m not talking about social media replacing the news. I firmly believe in the power of social media to provide a perspective on news from real people, but I don’t see it as a replacement for the news. When big stories break through social media such as the Hudson plane crash, I see this as the place where the story originates, but that we still turn to those ‘official’ outlets to get confirmation on the story and an unbiased view of events.

The news is not dead, but it is changing. Regional papers need to start embracing social media tools and put more emphasis on their online coverage. Physically, they are in a much better position than national news outlets and this is a huge advantage when everything has become real-time. The opportunity is for individual journalists to build up a presence through social media and become the known go-to for regional stories. The emphasis moves away from one whole media entity, to the individuals behind it. Some regional papers are starting to move in this direction. In the Brighton and Hove Argus, web editor Jo Wadsworth has readily adopted Twitter and uses it as a personal account, while firmly keeping the focus on the paper. Something that’s simply done through her Twitter handle ‘BrightonArgusJo’

Jo is an excellent example of using social media to not only communicate news, but also gather stories, picture and video. Jo regularly interacts with people on Twitter, as shown in the example above, to crowd-source pictures for stories. It’s instant news and we trust it is because it’s from a recognised source. This presentation also shows how the Birmingham Post are using social media, using individual identities for journalists on Twiter and making their site more of a social experience.

I see a great opportunity in regional journalists (fairly) using the images and video that we readily share online and giving these a bigger outlet, to accompany news stories. An interesting project is emerging on Youtube that allows news organisations to reach the people that are capturing this real-time content. Youtube Direct allows publishers to add an upload feature on their site, where people can add their youtube clips. The San Francisco Chronice, who are known for using social media, are among the first to trial it

So where does this leave the future of regional newspapers? More local media need to start embracing social media tools, be prepared to move the conversation away from their site/paper and recognise the potential to play a major part in steering the citizen journalism movement.