Weekly new and digital media story 2

http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2014/dec/08/government-must-fund-hyperlocal-news-urges-new-report

Government must fund hyper local news, urges new report

The report argues that 

• Ofcom should welcome grassroots hyperlocal media as a positive asset in contributing to media plurality.

• The government should widen existing financial interventions in the local news market to include hyperlocals. For instance, it should permit local authorities to spend some of their statutory advertising budgets through hyperlocal news providers.

• The BBC and other local news organisations should facilitate stronger relationships with hyperlocal news providers.

• The Lottery, and other relevant funders, should consider the potential for establishing a new funding programme dedicated to hyperlocal news sites.

I do think that hyperlocal news should be provided with some sort of financial backing considering the economic decline of the newspaper industry in general. I think that with newspapers likely to move online and onto the pay wall like the Sun, this is likely to be the end of most local newspapers as they will not gain enough subscriptions to survive, therefore they will need financial assistance from the government.