Hyper "Loco"

Are gone the days where people read printed articles on large format pages? Are the days of getting your local news via the local section of the newspaper? Are the days behind us that leave ink marks on our hands and shirts? Or better yet, gone are the days of conversation and idea sharing?

With a large number of Web start-up companies creating “hyper local news sites that let people zoom in on what is happening closest to them, often without involving traditional journalists” people seem to be getting more of the scoop that is important to them. These sites link several different things together from local government to local fine dining.

When someone is too close to a subject, they tend to have opinions and values upon subject that is all their own. It is in this connection that biases get created and real news gets tainted. If a bill gets past by the local government that implements more money to schools and the writer has the ability to editorialize their point of view upon the subject. This becomes especially dangerous, to the locals, when that writer is not objective to the process of delivering the news and becomes subjective to the gathering of it.

Then there is the question that arises when the local businesses become a controlling interest in the information being reported because as Ms. Miller and Mr. Stone declare, in their New York Times article entitled “’Hyperlocal’ websites Deliver News without Newspapers” “like traditional media, the hyperlocal sites have to find a way to bring in sufficient revenue to support their businesses”. Does this affect the way that news is going to be dispersed? How could it not? A business’s main priority to make money and the best way to make money is to please those that grant you more money. Please the investors and you will be pleased with the bottom line. “Advertisers want that kind of targeting, but they also want to reach more people, so there’s a paradox.”

Another thing that occurs to me is this just seems to be another way to promote self importance. Like how Facebook promotes the individual, the idea of hyperlocal links promotes the individual’s town. When a person wants to bask in their own greatness they can go to Facebook, but if they want to remember that they reside in Eden they can go to the hyper local links. Thus granting the idea of “EveryBlock”
The article written by Miller and stone declares the notion “When you slice further and further down, you get smaller and smaller audiences. ” The idea that people need ease of access to all the local trends: in politics, or what the best restaurant in the area is this just seems to be another way to break down interpersonal relationships and leaves no need to have communication with anyone else. In conclusion, I fear that opinions and “facts” will begin to appear in front of the reader rather than unbiased news reporting. The facts then will be interpreted and evaluated by someone in the local area that is not a professionally trained journalist, tends to cause me worry.