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Bolotin and Barlow invest in hyperlocal future with Inside the M60
Freelance journalists Louise Bolotin and Nigel Barlow are laying the foundations for a fresh, hyperlocal news service for Manchester that "fills the gaps" left by the contraction of the traditional regional newspaper industry.
Inside the M60, an online only venture, will be launched in time to provide coverage for the upcoming local and national elections.
Speaking to How-Do between mouthfuls of her lunch (apologies Louise), Bolotin confessed that the exact date for launch was yet to be decided (Barlow is currently busy developing the site) but that the 'M60' concept itself was clearly defined.
"We're not looking to emulate anyone or anything that already exists out there," she explained, "that'd be pointless.
"What we're looking to create is a hyperlocal news service that keeps itself at a grass roots level - filling the gaps that have been left by retreating local papers."
In particular she name-checked MEN Media here, noting that: "The cuts they made last year were really quite swingeing. Pulling out of the local markets and moving journalists away from their patches and into Deansgate (home of the Manchester Evening News) drastically reduced their ability to cover local issues."
Bolotin and Barlow's venture is aiming at directly plugging that gap, "supplying," as the latter noted on his blog, "relevant news and information to the community of Greater Manchester with the expressed purpose of giving a voice to the opinions of the disenfranchised community."
Content will "address the issues of concern to the general population of the city, scrutinising the policies of local government and other public and private bodies within the city, but also unafraid to tackle even the smallest issues that affect the population of Greater Manchester."
It sounds like a monumental task for two journalists juggling freelance careers - something Bolotin herself readily acknowledges:
"We're starting small and hoping to build into something much bigger," she imparted.
"Initially we'll be covering two neighbourhoods; the East Manchester corridor - Tameside through to Oldham - and Longsight and Levenshulme.
"There's a lot of community action and redevelopment taking place in these areas and that's simply not being properly reported on in the mainstream press."
The pair are currently in the process of recruiting 'beat bloggers' to help in the production of content, while they will also be sharing content with other local hyperlocal news sites (such as Saddleworth News).
"Co-operation will be key to establishing the site," Bolton remarked.
In terms of finances, Inside the M60 will look to generate funds from advertising and "other revenue streams" (Barlow has created the full business plan), while taking advantage of the low entry costs of web-only publishing.
Social media platforms, such as Twitter (although the portal is not live yet, its tweets are @InsidetheM60), will be key to building the site's following.
"We're starting small," admitted Bolotin, "we simply don't have the capabilities for a huge launch...but we have big plans and we hope the site will grow quite rapidly."
Further details of the launch will be announced via the Inside the M60 Twitter stream.
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Good luck to them. But would they rule out working the MEN or other existing local media?
WTF? is a disenfranchised community? Disenfranchised people who are in a community aren't disenfranchised. Nor does everyone who lives in a place automatically belong to a community either. Using the word incorrectly twice in one sentence.. Its not a great advert for anything other than a sheeplike use of pseudy speak is it?. Gee whizz! But good luck to them anyway.
I'll echo George's good luck sentiments.
This will be a monster of a task though and I don't see what advertisers are going to be turned on by a community focused blogging/news enterprise.
There's a real need for it all the same, so if it's a labour of love rather than a 'business' then I'm sure it has a bright future.
Poor Nigel - is there not a better picture of him than that horrendous crimewatch mugshot? Poor lad. He looks a lot better than that in real life!
Good luck to them both. It's a very ambitious project and it's not quite clear whether they will provide all the copy themselves or rely on (volunteer?) stringers/helpers. As others have mentioned the big minefield is libel and even the most careful of journalists can slip up if fed duff information. But I recall ex colleagues of Eddie Shah at Granada grinning disparagingly when he said he was quitting to set up a "desktop publishing" venture. So who knows.