Tag Archives: lichfield blog

‘Having blog in our name was causing problems’: Lichfield Blog renamed

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Hyperlocal news and community site the Lichfield Blog has been renamed Lichfield Live.

Writing on the Lichfield Community Media blog today, director Philip John says that he had previously blocked the name change, concerned that it was “too risky, potentially losing the reputation we had built up”.

But it became “hard to escape the fact that having ‘blog’ in our name was causing problems with how we were perceived”, he says.

Philip explains some of the other reasons behind the name change:

“Lichfield Live” is more suitable for several reasons;

  • It sounds new. We’re very much a “new media” operation.
  • It sounds timely. We’ve built a reputation for being first to have the news about what’s going on in Lichfield.
  • It fits with what’s on. Our most popular section is “What’s On” and nicely ties into events.

The Lichfield Blog isn’t dead though, it’ll carry on as a place for comment and opinion pieces from columnists “who live in, work in or represent Lichfield”. A new site is also due, which will cover the Burntwood & Chasetown region.

See the new Lichfield Live site at this link.

Journal Local: Chance for hyperlocals to win £5000

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The Co-operative is offering £5,000 prize money for community-focused projects doing something “revolutionary”, reports Journal Local.

As the Lichfield Blog’s Philip John points out, it’s a great opportunity for hyperlocal sites up and down the country.

As many hyperlocal sites are volunteer-run, not-for-profit groups who are really making a difference in their community this is a great opportunity to really push things forward.

I’ll be applying. Will you?

The Co-operative’s website has full details of how to apply.

Philip will be speaking about hyperlocal and data journalism at Journalism.co.uk’s upcoming news:rewired conference. See the news:rewired site for more info about Philip’s session, plus the full list of confirmed speakers and full agenda.

JournalLocal: ‘Is social enterprise the future of local media?’

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Philip John, one of the Lichfield Blog team, highlights remarks made by Derek Wyatt, Labour MP for Sittingbourne & Sheppey, during a recent parliamentary debate:

[He] made reference to the The Guardian’s status as the subsidiary of a charity, the Scott Trust as opposed to its rivals who are for-profit ventures. He went on to propose the model for local media as an answer, whether in part of whole, to the trouble facing newspapers.

Wyatt said, “There will be a Guardian alternative locally for groups of people wanting to set up not for profit newspapers often online but need funding.” The suggestion here is that at a local level the answer might be the Guardian-style of ownership whereby the media is part of a charitable trust or social enterprise, and a not-for-profit operation.

Full post at this link…

PS. Happy Birthday to the Lichfield Blog – it’s one year old today!

New ebook for hyperlocal bloggers

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Multimedia journalist Adam Westbrook has today released a new ebook about hyperlocal newsgathering, drawing on his experiences as a local reporter.

Its introductory price is £4.99 and Westbrook is optimistic people will pay: “I’ve purposefully kept it at a low price so its not a big investment even for someone just toying with the idea of starting a hyperlocal blog,” he told Journalism.co.uk.

“I think ebooks have a lot of potential because they have a quick turnaround. Any physical book on journalism is usually out of date before it hits the shelves!

“To that end I will be updating the book with collaborations with other bloggers, and hopefully producing at least one new title.”

And what exactly is ‘hyperlocal’? After all, Westbrook covered three counties during his time as a reporter. “I think the power of hyperlocal is in doing a small area really well,” he said.

“In my experience even local papers can’t really drill into a single community and often cover several towns. I think the typical hyperlocal will cover a single town or single village. It will need to have the same journalistic ambitions as a paper but with very few people and little or no budget. That’s why I wrote the book, to show people they don’t need a big newsroom to do big news.

Lichfield blogger Philip John has reviewed the book for his site JournalLocal, at this link. While John has some criticisms, he says that the book, ‘Newsgathering for Hyperlocal Websites,’ “is definitely a good start in helping hyperlocal owners to organise themselves and make sure they have all the information they need to serve their community”.

Both Philip John and Adam Westbook will be talking at Journalism.co.uk’s news:rewired event on 14 January.