"Hyperlocal" News Sites

In this current economic crisis, many people have stopped buying newspapers. The news industry is in decline, suffering cuts just as severe as any other market's. Many people, short on cash, are turning to the internet for their information because it's usually free. Now, a trend in this on-line media has surfaced: the obsession with local news. These "hyperlocal" news sites are concerned with only a limited area, disregarding even national news that affects the local, like swine flu, in favor of a block-by-block investigation of one town or county. Most of these news sites are manned by volunteers, and so the information is questionable. Trained journalists are changing that, though, starting their own hyperlocal news sites, then recruiting and training area volunteers on the proper way to investigate, find facts, and present controversial topics without bias. These local newsmen then go into the community and report on topics that would never be noticed by a larger paper. One newspaper volunteer was able to uncover a case of police brutality in their small town which had gone uninvestigated by any other source.
While the news industry is struggling, the operators of these hyperlocal papers are more optimistic. They believe that the culture of media is changing, and they are adapting well and coming up with new ideas about how to fund newspapers and decide what to present (one paper allows its readers to choose which stories they want to pay for, thus tayloring the paper to the local demand). The world may be ending like all the large papers say, these locals believe, but there's more to it than that, and there will always be a news source to report on it all.