Hartsville Today Report - Microsoft Word (1.88 MB)

Hartsville Today Report - PDF (7.45 MB)

This research, tracking the conception, launch and first year of a community media site was produced by , an instructor at the University of South Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communications, who partnered with the twice-a-week Hartsville Messenger. The project was funded by a J-Lab New Voices grant.

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Hartsville Today: The first year of a small-town citizen-journalism site

By Doug Fisher, Instructor
USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications

The Hartsville Messenger, a twice-a-week newspaper with a staff of five, has its hands full trying to cover an area of about 20,000 people around Hartsville, S.C.  So in 2005-06 it partnered with the University of South Carolina to launch a web site both to give its staff a place to publish community news more quickly and to give the community a place for some citizen-generated content.  The effort was funded by J-Lab’s New Voices project.

They came up with HartsvilleToday.com - plus a 72-page “cookbook” (see Resources box on the right) that details what they did and how they did it, sprinkled with advice from their learning curve. While it’s a guide for small daily and non-daily newspapers, the lessons apply to anyone seeking to start up a community news project.

Some Do’s

1. Include an events calendar.
2. Allow photo posting.
3. Recruit endlessly.
4. Budget for training.
5. Update daily.
6. Get a good weather “bug.”
7. Expect to spend $10,000 to start up.
8. Remember Pareto’s Principle: 20 percent of the people will do 80 percent of the work.

Key Choices

• Will the site be edited?
• Who will monitor posts?
• Must people post under their real names or may they use screen names?

Contents

Executive summary
Future of journalism
Hartsville Today - At a glance
Site creation
Advice for small newspapers
Recruiting, training
Sales
Technology
Freelancer agreement
Content analysis