News deserts and hyperlocal marketing - Home of All Things Hyperlocal

In NYC, high-information New Yorkers adapt “plaintive ignorance”. The New York Times recently observed how some left-leaning, reflective New Yorkers vowed to break up with the news. One cited reason: their political opponents were “fasting from legitimate news” — and won. A self-imposed news desert in the Upper West Side, of sorts.

Is “staying on top of everything at all times” of much value in the news deserts?

News deserts in their traditional sense create a few interesting opportunities for hyperlocal startups. Since there’s less competition for attention, it’s a lot easier to get your message in front of people. At least that’s what the Gemini bot had to suggest as we worked on this blog post. It remains to be seen if your average news desert resident is animated by the competitive urge to know more than a neighbor, whether they struggle to stay on top of everything at all times — like the reflective New Yorkers are. After all, we are taking the news deserts here.

Since — unlike in big cities — there’s less the “information is currency and knowledge is status” thing there, the social costs to not keeping up are lower in news deserts. Whether you can really focus on the things that matter to your local audiences in news deserts is still something to be discovered. Like with any target audience, hyperlocal startups, will find themselves wanting to show to their news desert audiences that you understand their needs and concerns.

*For communities that are eager to begin investing in local news, Press Forward published a new toolkit, Press Forward: A Guide for Local Funders. Source: Press Forward*

The traditional power dynamics of news is an opportunity for hyperlocal startups

A lack of access to quality community journalism and urge to change the traditional power dynamics of news to better serve everyone, Indiegraf to make local news entrepreneurship a great career and life choice across some of North America’s 2,000 news deserts.

Indiegraf has helped over 120 publications across North America navigate the challenges of independent journalism

An initiative of the nonprofit media organization, The GroundTruth Project, Report for the World, a service program launched in 2021, partners with 30+ independent news organizations supporting 45 reporting positions in 20 countries.

*1,561 US counties have only one news outlet. Source: Northwestern University*

With the number of nondaily local newspapers in the US dropping from 7,325 in 2005 to 4,562 in 2024, Northwestern University has deployed a team of experts in digital innovation, audience understanding and business strategy to document the crisis.

In our future posts, 5,000 Cities will delve deeper into various ways in which the trends set by these organizations can help locally-embedded or hyperlocal startups to serve local communities.