About nine months ago, the publishers of several hyperlocal news Web sites started a Facebook group. While each of their operations focused on very distinct communities, they realized they all were wrestling with common problems: ad sales, technological challenges, social media. Through their discussion, they realized maybe working together would make all of their lives easier.
Then they decided it was time to take the conversation to the next level: They scheduled a meeting at the second annual Block by Block: Community News Summit at Chicago's Loyola University. After conference sessions were over for the day on Friday, September 30, dozens of publishers got together in a private room to talk about forming a trade group to help the nation's wide array of hyperlocal sites grapple with their mutual challenges.
The next morning, Michele McLellan, the founder of Block by Block and a 2009-10 Reynolds Journalism Institute fellow, was about to deliver her closing remarks when she was approached by Mike Fourcher, who runs three hyperlocal news Web sites in Chicago. He asked if, before she wrapped things up, he could make an announcement to the crowd.
It was then that Fourcher told about 100 of his hyperlocal peers that he and some others were about to launch a trade association for hyperlocal publishers. The audience had plenty of questions about specifics, but Fourcher emphasized that many of the details remained to be decided. The key was that the trade group was going to happen.
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