One of Hashbrum’s stated aims is to try to fill some of the gaps in conventional news coverage in Birmingham. That could be quite a wide remit, or quite a narrow one. It all really depends how good you think local news is in the city. I’m currently trying to find people who are interested in local news and ask them what they think it is missing.
That’s a tall order, obviously, but I’ve already had some interesting responses. So far, it seems that Birmingham’s main coverage comes from regional news providers: Central TV, BBC West Midlands, the Birmingham Post, The Birmingham Mail and (to perhaps a lesser extent) The Express and Star in Wolverhampton.
These all have websites, as well as their TV, radio and print mainstays. TV and print are perhaps better than radio, because most of the radio stations concentrate on music and don’t have as much time for news.
But all of these examples seem to suffer from a kind of regional perspective – they don’t exclusively cover Birmingham and are preoccupied with what one might call ‘bigger’ stories. By bigger, I mean headline grabbing stuff. That’s natural, obviously, but it means that there’s a big gap.
Here’s where I think some of that gap exists:
- Community news
- Local sport
- Local events (the kind of stuff you get in newsletters)
- Ward-by-ward politics
- Local facilities – toilets, libraries, etc.
- Events, farmers markets, school plays, etc.
Evidently, some of that gap is taken up by blogs, newsletters and the likes of Rhubarb Radio. But I’m pretty sure there are still things that might not be receiving the sort of coverage they should.
We’ve already started experimenting with maps, which help people to focus on what’s going on in their specific area. That’s helpful, too, because it’s fun and engaging, which is the whole point of this! But there’s a lot more that people need to know about – outside the traditional local paper stuff. That’s got to be stage two of my inquiry!
Popularity: 38% [?]
What I would find interesting is if you could catch the swell of what people are discussing at ground level – a kind of check and balances thing against what is being presented on TV news (an editorialised angle) or by the council as received opinion. Be involved and be in touch with what is currently interesting to online people on your beat – though Birmingham is a rather large beat. But stories like the destruction of Central Library and what people think about it. It saves me checking Twitter and other sources to find out what the conversation is and what the activists are up to so I can join them.
Essentially report on the conversation that is taking place. I think that would be a nice and useful niche.
Also, I really like London Interesting on Twitter – tis useful and popular and stuff: http://twitter.com/LDN Would be good to have a super source for Brum stuff.