Category: Local Government

Council reporting – who is going to do it?

This is the fourth in our series of blogposts on the C&binet conference in London which took place last week. Following on from the first session on the state of newspapers and value of news, the issue of council reporting was raised in discussion.

With the decline of regional news coverage are we in danger of losing reports which hold the local council to account. Someone asked how much council reporting was actually going on anyway – are we seeing local reporting though rose-tinted glasses and not realising how little is done by regional media. Some councils actively try to stamp out probing news coverage by refusing journalists access to certain meetings and councillors.

Councils need to be open to bloggers and hyperlocal reporters and treat them like other news organisations (which is by no means an ideal relationship either) – by being given access to council meetings and documents and councillors themselves. Read more

Hyperlocal news models

This is the third post in our series from the C&binet conference on what the government should do about hyperlocal. Highly developed in the US, Rachel Sterne from GroundReport presented four types of hyperlocal news models.


US Hyperlocal News Market –

Whether networked or single locality journalism, hyperlocal start-ups all have some sort of editorial position and a hierarchy and production system which favours skilled editor roles. The voluntary start-ups often have an authentic and raw feel, but can be inconsistent in maintenance (thus professionalism) and attract small audiences. Hyperlocal sites which have a media parent, such as the recently launched Guardian Local and Associated Press’ Local People sites provide an instant audience, content pool, and access to the technology and resources, but can lack innovation which is prohibited by the internal politics of the media legacy of the publisher which need to be followed.

Models from the US showed how giving content providers (who write and upload articles voluntarily) a platform to publish content rewards them with being pitched next to writers on a site which give them credibility and an impetus to work hard. Similarly deputised editors will work on the basis they feel privileged to have access and control over content. GroundReport and The Huffington Post are good examples of this.

The final slide in the presentation on hyperlocal models shows government funded sites while delivering high quality of coverage would gain limited audience and less sustainable.

The Birmingham Consultation Database

This week sees the launch of  www.birminghambeheard.org.uk – a database of consultations about and from Birmingham.

Typically the consultations stretch back about 3 years and involve the various organisations which form Be Birmingham, the local strategic partnership.

The site itself has been made by an internal team at Birmingham City Council.  We were approached to make a a promotional video, which ended up being very practical: a simple to guide to how to start using the site:

You’ll notice one other thing which has happened since we made the film.  The site has an RSS feed.  It gives you general updates and the moment and I’m sure they’d be willing to consider a wider variety of  rss feeds – for example by ward or constituency if you think that would help you. So  there’s room to offer feedback here, use it if you get a moment.