Happy weekend.
A friend alerted me this week that hyper-local US social network Nextdoor - which connects 100 million neighbours in 11 countries - is getting into local news.
Very cool.
What’s even more cool is that it’s working with local news publishers to get their headlines to their communities.
This is something I proposed to them back in 2001 while still running my video AI company Oovvuu BTW. I bet Nate Kelly remembers 😜
It’s great news, but it got me thinking more deeply about new innovative ways to get local news to people in a cost-effective and sustainable way.
So I was joined on Scotch and Watch by newsletter whizz Sam Shedden to answer a question with big consequences: Can newsletters rebuild local journalism?
He’s been at this for a while. He ran newsletter strategy for more than 100 local titles at Britain’s third largest publisher National World.
A year or two back he made a seachange, dumping dreary London and relocating 17,000km ✈️ to Australia’s cultural capital, Melbourne.
He fell in love with the city and a year ago started his own local news outlet Melbourne Snap (Sam Shedden) on Substack.
And he still finds time in his busy day to run newsletters for the UK’s #1 local publisher Reach.
I’ve been thinking a lot about hyper-local publishers lately - and this inspiring chat gave me even more food for thought.
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Now back to Sam, who tells me Reach has given its reporters extra time off to work on newsletters for Substack. He’s already launched two dozen titles.
“The company went out to the reporters and asked them what they were obsessed about. Was it cricket, or Liverpool?” he tells me.
“And Reach said it would support them with network support and see what happened. Staff were also given time out of their working day to do it.”
Sam also shares what he’s learned through Melbourne Snap (Sam Shedden) and the challenges of turning it into a sustainable income.
This is Scotch and Watch. Hope you enjoy it, and happy weekend.
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