Idea Lab

How a Hyperlocal Site Can Sway Elections

by G. Patton Hughes
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

Every political campaign, whether local, state or national, is a battle of competing narratives. The role of the media in general - this includes editorial, advertising and in the case of hyperlocal news/social sites conversation - is to serve as vehicles for the competing narratives. Candidates attach themselves to these narratives and voters choose. The conversation on Paulding.com, a hyperlocal media site, was decisive in the local primary election in July 15th with the site being credited as being a key influence in the landslide victories of three candidates that rejected incumbents, including a well-funded two-term incumbent commission chairman who...

• July 24, 2008
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Hyperlocal Media Meets Negative Campaigning

by G. Patton Hughes
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

If all politics are local, then hyperlocal media of sorts should be in tall cotton when it comes to local politics. No so and not now; rather hyperlocal media is at best a big thorn in the side of the key group that determines where the big buck political money goes. That key group is the political consultant. This group controls spending for most big-dollar local races such as state house, senate, commission chairman and sheriff in most mid-size to large counties in the nation. Today a serious candidate for commission chairman in Paulding County will spend upwards of $100,000...

• July 3, 2008
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Newspapers Suffer from Marketing Myopia Online

by G. Patton Hughes
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

I've attended a few conferences and it appears to me that most folks in journalism hate advertising. Maybe that comes from seeing the last eight inches of their story end up on the composing room floor to make room for another two column by four-inch ad or just distrust of business. I wouldn't hazard a guess. Regardless, it would seem some journalistic purists are using the current situation to seek wholly different business forms to fund journalism in general. While the national practice of the craft has been benefited by foundations, the idea that anything approaching hyperlocal can be funded...

• May 11, 2008
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Hyperlocal Sites Can Deliver More Than Display Ads

by G. Patton Hughes
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

Mark Glaser, our host on Mediashift, asked: " ... is there something (hyper-local news sites) can offer the businesses beyond just a display ad or a place in an online directory? Is there a more creative partnership they might have, where reader/contributors could give the business honest feedback on the site -- positive and negative? Paulding.com, for those who are aware, is based on a simple message board shtick. We have a front page with news but the majority of the action - some 2200 posts a day - occur within the forums. These posts are typically viewed by members...

• March 30, 2008
• 3 comments

The Case for Local Ownership of Newspapers

by G. Patton Hughes
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

Beating the street looking for a job in journalism is not a pleasant thought these days. As the firing of editors at places like the LA Times over newsroom staff cuts demonstrates, out-of-work journalists are totally divorced from the decision making that affects their lives. This is because the big decisions in this industry are being made by corporate management types whose primary goal in life is a seven figure bonus. These titans of industry are not just in the media companies; they are also in advertising and marketing. That the opinions of a few carry such weight is simply...

• March 26, 2008
• 2 comments

Dealing with Privacy Issues in Hyper-Local Media

by G. Patton Hughes
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

Chances are you'll be getting a notice regarding changes in privacy policies from the various web sites from hgtv.com (Home and Garden) to myspace and other publishers and advertising related businesses associated with the Internet Advertising Bureau. These changes in privacy policies are the result of a new marketing approach endorsed by the Internet Advertising Bureau establishing tighter integration of data collected by media sites with databases of advertisers and others who serve ads to the public on the Internet. Members of the IAB are a who's who in the Internet industry including Google, Yahoo!, double-click, AOL, the NYTimes, Cox...

• March 4, 2008
• 1 comment

Why I Love Forums -- and Not Blogs

by G. Patton Hughes
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

I have an admission to make. I really don't like blogs. They are not conversational and they don't build a community. I love forums because they are conversational and with a little nurturing, they can blossom into a full-blown on-line community. This is true whether the common interests are cars, collectibles or a geographic community. Another reason I love forums is that, unlike a blog, I could have stopped writing at the end of the last paragraph. On an active forum that assertion would have been enough to effectively start a conversation that possibly would be just as informative as...

• February 5, 2008
• 4 comments

It's The Network, Stupid!

by G. Patton Hughes
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

My challenge has been summed up as making money from a hyperlocal community web site or, said differently "It is the sales, stupid." (see previous entry) That is a gross oversimplification. What my 21st Century Newchallenge is all about is building a sustainable business model based on connecting a community. That means it is always about the network. Sales and revenues impact sustainability but are secondary to the core mission, which is to develop the community. If challenged to say what is the community, I could just smirk and say, read the site; all 1.7 million posts. If you were...

• December 30, 2007
• 6 comments

It's The Sales Stupid!

by G. Patton Hughes
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

It is the sales stupid! No it is not ... it is the network (Check the companion entry It is the network stupid) that determines if you attract a viable audience that generates monetize-able journalism ... I.e. journalism that attracts a salable audience. My belief has always been that sales will come when you have a viable audience. I'm here to report that it does even when you're barely competent at sales. Yep, I've had sales ... although any reasonable businessperson would say that sales I've generated so far are lackluster. The secret of good sales is a good salesperson...

• December 30, 2007
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"Now" Trumps "Me" by Putting Us All in the Newsroom

by G. Patton Hughes
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

This scene took place at the Journalism that Matters conference in DC and it relates to one of those little epiphanies we all wish we experienced more often. It was in one of the breakout sessions at the conference where the future of the media was being discussed. There was one of the blindingly bright twenty-something man of Asian descent that seems destined to get $20 million in backing from an equally inscrutable venture capitalist. When he spoke, people listened and it is a vision of the future we've all heard. The narrative is that we'll all have our little...

• October 30, 2007
• 2 comments

My 21st Century News Challenge

by G. Patton Hughes
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

I am G. Patton Hughes and I publish a hyperlocal website in Paulding County Georgia. My 21st Century Knight News Challenge is to write about how I am going to make money out of this hyperlocal new media venture. My goal is to share with you observations of a lone entrepreneur who had a new media idea and is trying to make it work. I feel it important to set the stage for what will follow so bear with me while I present a little history. I'll use a "QnA" format. Q. The first question is how I came to...

• October 15, 2007
• 1 comment