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So could the newspaper of the future cover the news of just a few blocks?
Anyone who enjoys reading about cats stuck up trees, or the village fete, is in for a treat; the local paper is about to become even more parochial.
At a time when newspapers
are under threat from rival media, some executives believe "micro-papers", delivered to just a handful of streets and covering extremely local events, could hold the key to growth.
Former London Daily Express editor and Financial Times executive Richard Addis, who now runs a consultancy, is planning a paper that will be distributed in affluent London suburbs.
Although he is not giving away details, it is likely to be delivered free to wealthy suburbs, satisfying a demand that existing freesheets handed out in the city centres don't meet.
Addis says he has financial backers and claims the success of City AM, the free morning title available in the Square Mile (the old City of London, the English capital's financial district), has demonstrated that the idea is commercially viable.
"In the old model, free papers had to have circulations of about 400,000 to work," he says. "City AM has shown that it can be done with about 100,000. The question is whether you can do it with 25,000."
He believes that would be viable and that there is money to be made from daily papers covering even smaller areas.
"It's dipping a toe in the hyper-local waters," he says, referring to a phenomenon that has excited the United States newspaper industry.
The growing number of free glossy magazines has convinced him the model could work with newspapers.
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 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."
So wouldn't the internet be the medium best suited to deliver local news?
"The web's still not user-friendly enough and a lot of us are struggling with our broadband," Addis retorts. "I don't see any reason why you can't do it in print now with the aim of turning it into an internet business when we have 90 per cent broadband penetration. There is a three-year window."
In the US, where the internet is more entrenched, websites carrying local news have already become popular. One, outside.in, provides users with news about the surrounding three or four streets. US newspapers have responded by producing more localised content, often at the expense of national or international coverage.
It is a trend that some of Britain's largest local newspaper groups have acted on, too.
According to Tim Bowdler, chief executive of Johnston Press, which publishes the Lancashire Evening Post and the Northampton Chronicle and Echo, "demand from local communities has never been stronger". Johnston launched about 50 community newsletters last year.
Generally they are monthly and distributed free to communities of 4000-6000. They carry "advertising for the local high street - the butcher and baker who wouldn't advertise in local papers because it's too expensive".
Johnston has also spent heavily on a digital newsroom, where journalists file copy for the internet, mobile phones and personal organisers.
"By adopting a layered approach to content, and managing it in an integrated way, we aim to give advertisers a better market reach," says Bowdler.
Others believe the concept has limitations.
John Fry, chief executive of publishing group Archant, 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."
He adds that most of Archant's regional papers have launched smaller local editions to capitalise on this trend. "But the more tightly focused you make it, the less frequent the title needs to be."
Archant launched a series of successful free lifestyle magazines several years ago, but the internet may be better placed to meet daily demand, Fry says. Like most local newspaper websites, Archant's own, including www.eadt24.co.uk and www.eveningstar.co.uk, offer rolling news and reader feedback.
"The website and print products complement each other and the interplay between the two is increasing."
The technological advances fuelling the growth of the internet are also making it easier to launch old-fashioned print products. The Digger, a weekly newsletter edited in Glasgow by founder James Cruickshank, claims to have built a circulation of over 10,000 by covering the crime the mainstream press ignores - and readers gladly pay 50p ($1.40) for it.
If the humble local rag has anything to teach industry executives, it could be that salvation lies in good, old-fashioned reporting, regardless of whether the story concerns the church jumble sale or a murder.
- OBSERVER
