Guardian abandons local journalism programme

newmediage reporting:

The Guardian is to wind down its conceptual local journalism initiative, Local, because of a lack of commercial viability.

When Local launched two years ago, the idea was to experiment with “new models of local journalism to see whether they could be editorially and commercially viable”, wrote Guardian digital engagement head Meg Picard on the paper’s blog.
But now the project is to be abandoned and communities and topics will be subsumed into wider coverage.
The project saw blog and network specialist Sarah Hartley lead as editor, supported by a team of three reporters in Leeds, Cardiff and Edinburgh, using multimedia reporting, online and offline community management, events and participation across social media platforms.
Since launch, the three blogs have had “real impact”, according to Pickard. Many of the issues covered led to changes in decisions taken by local authorities.
... While Local has done much to underline that readers and communities can still be engaged through digital platforms, it shows that a viable commercial model for hyperlocal journalism has yet to be found.
http://www.nma.co.uk/3025893.article?cmpid=NMAE01&cmptype=newsletter&email=true