This is the second in our series of blogposts on the C&binet conference in London which took place this week. Our first sesssion was introduced with a presentation from Enders Analysis (below) about the state of local media from the newspapers’ perspective. The numbers were pretty harrowing but largely expected.

The second slide shows from 2001 circulation numbers from regional and national news started to decline. And yet slide three shows how comparatively little time readers spend online than they do reading newspapers – so is less news being consumed all round?

Far from it, was the consensus from those at the conference. News is being consumed today more than ever. But the relatively little time readers will spend skimming across webpages is no incentive for advertisers to migrate online – hence the combination of the digital revolution and the recession has meant job cuts and a number of regional papers no longer able to continue.

Some points in the discussion focused on whether quality journalism would be lost as regional newspapers fold and are not emulated in a similar way online. It was argued some regional news journalists, with the added work load from staff cuts and times pressures from uploading their own content online, no longer have the time in their day to do what is known as ‘investigative’ or ‘accountability‘ journalism.

Others felt local media was still providing this necessary service of holding authorities to account. Either way it was agreed things could be done to make sure accountability journalism continued – streaming council meetings and making sure bloggers were treated as local media by authorities to ensure cooperation were some suggestions.

There was talk about the impact of the changing times on the quality of journalism. ‘What makes good journalism’ was too controversial a debate to get into – but in defence of online journalism those from the US said the bigger news organisations could no longer get away with just putting up every article or anything online – but had to make sure content was equal or better in quality than print.

Trust was another issue raised – trust of the voice being important for readers, regardless of the way the news is delivered. It is also the strength of the social capital gained from reporting local events which is more important than how it is produced.

This opening discussion on the state of news today was a precursor to looking at hyperlocal models later in the conference. But there is a common misconception hyperlocal websites are trying to emulate gaps left by regional media online. It is true part of the reason online news start-ups have appeared is ex-journalists trying to fill the gaps in news coverage regional media have left behind. But hyperlocal sites are sprouting up all across the UK and most of them are not news as we know it. They are created by citizens (voluntarily) inspired by having some information they wish to publish, and now being able to do so with online tools and social media. These sites focus on a particular community or single issue of interest.

“We have to radically change our view of engaging a community and who our advertisers are and business efficiency through volunteerism.”

Part of the debate about the future of news is coming to terms with the fact it will not be reborn as an online version of what was there before. The media is integral to our living in a democratic society and noone doubts the value of news and accountability journalism – but citizens publishing news and information of interest to them are making sure democracy increases rather than fades out with regional news.

Prominent voices in the hyperlocal debate gathered at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport today to talk about the changing landscape of news and media and, if anything, what the government should do.

Arranged by Minister for Creative Industries Siôn Simon, and chaired by CEO of GroundReport Rachel Sterne and founder of Talk About Local William Perrin, the conference – called C&binet Seminar – was a collision of talking heads about their experiences and thoughts on the state of local and national news and their plans or predictions for the future of journalism. Those in attendance included Editor-in-chief of The Guardian Alan Rusbridger, Editor of Citizen Journalism at The Huffington Post Matthew Palevsky and Paul Bradshaw from Birmingham City University’s MA in Online Journalism (see a full list of attendees below).

Sessions focused on a number of areas in the debate, introduced with a presentation from those with particular knowledge of a field, and were followed by passionate discussions with attendees drawing on their own research and experiences. A number of key issues emerged and we will be running a series of blogposts featuring key points which were raised on the following subjects:

• The state of newspapers and the value of news
• Hyperlocal news models
• Council reporting – who should do it?
• What the journalism students need to know
• Freeing up public data
• Libel laws for online journalism

The aim of the discussion was to draw out anything concrete which the government could do to aid or help the growth of news coverage from grassroots hyperlocal blogs to media organisations migrating online. From the outset it was accepted hyperlocal news, community websites and online coverage were positive entities and the opening debate shed light on the state of traditional and online media in the UK and US – and problems with both models. Later Rachel Sterne broke down the different types of hyperlocal sites in the US - you can see her slideshow on the GroundReport website here.

At the end of the meeting people made suggestions of possible answers to the question which had brought them together – what should the government do? Here’s Paul Bradshaw’s notes on the question and some suggestions from other attendees:

-Set standards for publically funded information
-Clarify legal responsibilities and liabilities of publishers of user-generated content
-Prevent councils from distorting publishing market by running ad-funded propaganda newspapers
-Require the BBC to make video news content available to grassroots publishing and not just legacy players
-Require councils to audio/video stream meetings and provide an on-demand archive
-Get more people online
-Get rid of draconian libel laws
-Subsidise local public service reporting
-Free up government data intelligently and faster
-Open arts funding to journalism
-Support grassroots digital training for active citizens
-Encourage experimentation with low overheads to low cost of failure.
-Release postcodes and other geo-data
-Find geo-location tools and standards for information
-Have clear vision and strategy for democratic renewal
-Monitor civic impact of citizen journalism
-Develop guidelines for councils to treat local bloggers like local press
-Work with schools and a valid local platform for area-wide learning of citizen journalism.
-Immunity from defamtion arising from comments
-Add journalism as an act of supported volunteering

Attendees to C&binet Seminar ‘09:

• Richard Allen (Facebook)
• Nick Booth and Hannah Waldram (Podnosh)
• Jon Bounds (Blogger)
• Paul Bradshaw (Senior Lecturer in Online Journalism, Magazines and New Media at Birmingham City University)
• Joanna Geary (The Times)
• James Hatts (Bankside Press)
• Sarah Hartley (The Guardian)
• James Heath (BBC)
• Jeff Jarvis – via Skype (Journalist)
• Tom Loosemore (Channel 4)
• Ruth MacKenzie (DCMS)
• Douglas McCabe (Enders Analysis)
• Matthew Palevsky (Huffington Post)
• William Perrin (Talk About Local)
• Sylwia Presley and Neha Viswanathan (Global Voices)
• Damian Radcliffe (Ofcom)
• Alan Rusbridger (The Guardian)
• Siôn Simon (Minister for Creative Industries)
• Rachel Sterne (GroundReport)
• Julian Thompson and Michael Delvin (RSA)
• Tom Watson (MP)

This week sees the launch of  www.birminghambeheard.org.uk – a database of consultations about and from Birmingham.

Typically the consultations stretch back about 3 years and involve the various organisations which form Be Birmingham, the local strategic partnership.

The site itself has been made by an internal team at Birmingham City Council.  We were approached to make a a promotional video, which ended up being very practical: a simple to guide to how to start using the site:

You’ll notice one other thing which has happened since we made the film.  The site has an RSS feed.  It gives you general updates and the moment and I’m sure they’d be willing to consider a wider variety of  rss feeds – for example by ward or constituency if you think that would help you. So  there’s room to offer feedback here, use it if you get a moment.

These are my links for October 24th through October 25th:

• What I (nearly) said at Government 2010 – Neil has some very well structured thinking on government, online consultation/conversation and who's job it is: "People have jobs already. Busy ministers and officials can be forgiven for thinking it’s my job and that of my team to communicate online for them. Challenge is to understand their world, the pressures they’re under, the things they want to achieve, and show how digital can help them do that quicker/better."
• genzai·chi » MuseumNext: wild ideas about participation – Nikki on Museums: "I gained a lot through speaking with museum (and psychology!) professionals of all sorts and it has really helped me to better appreciate the sorts of issues institutions might be trying to address through the use of games and playful experiences. Also what the main concerns they may have in doing this and where likely pitfalls may be."
• Urban Interface Policy – VURB – "In the smart city, what is written as programmatic software ‘code’ can easily become defacto ‘law’ as it imposes permissioning schemes and identity regimes on it’s participants. So far, the internet, and the open source software that powers much of it, has remained remarkably adaptable to the ideals of democratic and egalitarian societies. Every infrastructural advance, however, goes through a watershed moment where the governing design principles of the technology itself begin to influence the types of societal experiences they might produce. We need to attempt to understand the cultural ramifications of such infrastructural design decisions in this context"
• Who’s not using the internet? | Culture | The Observer – "Access to the internet, and the ability to navigate the web has, for example, been shown to produce a significant rise in social confidence among 60 per cent of those who had previously been excluded, while in recent studies of internet usage among individuals who considered themselves to be depressed, "feelings of loneliness" decreased in 80 per cent of cases once people got online, and depressive symptoms were "cured" in 20 per cent of cases. Virtual conversations and interactions are now widely argued to be just as important as "real world" encounters in making people feel attached to a community, or part of a network."
• Chinese city launches citizen feedback system | Articles | FutureGov – Solutions for Government | Education | Healthcare – The Chinese municipal government of Dalian has launched a user evaluation and electronic monitoring system to gauge the popularity and usefulness of its citizen-facing web sites, and to respond faster to complaints from the public.
• Petition to: Encourage the Royal Mail to offer a free postcode database to non-profit and community websites. | Number10.gov.uk – You might like to sign Stuart Harrison's Downing Street petition: "We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Encourage the Royal Mail to offer a free postcode database to non-profit and community websites"

Here are some of the things I’ve been reading October 24th from 22:45 to 23:23:

• Steve Bridger › Blogging a crisis: reflecting on some lessons learned – Steve Bridger writes a very fine post on his After Wilma blog, sharing with us why getting the story told is very important in times of crisis. He quotes Dan Gilmour: "Tell the truth. Tell it quickly. Tell as much as you can. People crave a genuine, human voice in times of crisis."
• 21st Century Councillor – about 21st century councillor – "A 21st Century Councillor is one who is a supported, confident, talented and professional community leader. One who understands but can also transform their place. One who can think strategically, as well as be informed and inspired by their local roots. In short, being a 21st Century Councillor is a role that many more people should understand and aspire to fulfilling for at least a part of their lives. Where this is not the case, change is not going to come through statutory obligations alone."
• Huddersfield gets it’s own social media surgery – The whole process is very well summed up: "At the surgery you’ll get chance to sit down and have a cup of tea with someone who understands about web sites and tell them about your group or organisation and what you do. This will be the starting point. Then you’ll be able to look at the kinds of web sites and services that you might find helpful, and see what similar groups are doing. You can choose some services to try out, and even set up a web site there and then if you feel you need some help getting started"
• Social Media Surgery « John Popham’s Random Musings – "Every City, Town, Village & Neighbourhood should have a Social Media Surgery"
• Rusbridger’s Mutualised News – Editors Weblog – Alan Rusbridger: "For the first time since the Enlightenment, communities are faced with the prospect of living without verifiable sources of news," Rusbridger warns. "This feels like some kind of emergency, and it is not clear to me that our legislators recognise that." Sometimes I think news organisations over play how much they really check the truth of the stuff they run.
• cybersoc.com: guide to using social media (in 6500 words) – A wonderful long post where Robing sums up some of the stuff he's learnt about social media.
• We don’t want to read your website. We want to write it. | Local Democracy – Paul Evans echoes a number of thoughts on councils and online media: "They are finding that all of these annoying geeks are making it more difficult for them with their FOI requests, their defamatory blogs, and so on. They feel that they’re in an arms race that they can’t win."