A daily newspaper journalist has ditched the bright lights of Brighton to set up a local news site in his home town in South Wales.
Richard Gurner, former web editor with the Brighton Argus, has left the south coast daily newspaper to work on CaerphillyObserver.co.uk full-time after feeling that traditional media is not satisfying the need for news in the area.
He started the project part-time two years ago and since then the website has grown rapidly to rival the online audience of free weekly the Campaign where Richard started his journalism career seven years ago.
Said Richard: “Being a reporter on your home patch is simply the best job there is and I am passionate about local news and the role it plays in the community.
“Owning my own newspaper has always been a dream of mine and thanks to the internet it is now a possibility. I am naturally nervous about what the future holds and whether or not I can monetise the site with the help of local businesses, but any fear is far outweighed by the truly exciting possibility that I can establish Caerphilly Observer as part of the Welsh media.
He added: “I know the patch extremely well, and I have some great contacts. Building and sustaining relationships with businesses is the key to success.
“There is a huge appetite for news in Caerphilly, one which I believe is not being satisfied by traditional media. It is all about the end product and if I don’t come up to scratch then the site’s readers won’t return and the business community won’t support the site.”
Richard, who was running the site while being based 200 miles away in Brighton, continued: “What started out as a part-time project to enhance my web skills and to keep up-to-date with news from my home community has evolved into something with a life of its own. I wouldn’t be doing myself, or my readers, justice if I just continued working on it part-time.
“This is a golden opportunity to really make a difference to news provision in my home community and create something that is sustainable.”
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Hmmmm. Running a local news site from 200 miles away. Good trick if you can pull it off.
I wish him well but to be absorbed in his local community Richard will have to be at the local council and public meetings in person. I don’t know of any website editors who can claim to be involved and known in the local news communities. Many local newspaper reporters hardly leave their terminals nowadays.
I look forward to his first annual report….
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Just to be clear, I have actually moved back home to work on the site full-time.
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If you read the article properly you will see Richard was running it part time from 200 miles away but has now moved back to run it full time.
As someone from Caerphilly I can assure you the news is relevant and Richard is well known from his time with the campaign.
I say well done butt and good luck!!!
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Yes I think the ‘Observer’ completely missed the point of this article, and the title! Well done Richard and good luck for the future!
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Good luck Richard – and welcome to the growing band of hyperlocal start-ups.
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I will have run the Everything Epping Forest local news and information website in Essex – http://www.everythingeppingforest.co.uk – for three years in November.
I started the site when I was made redundant from the local newspaper where I was editor and, like Richard, was keen to maintain local news links.
EEF now registers more than 50,000 hits a week and is often first with ‘breaking news’.
in response to the comments from ‘Observer’, hyperlocal site editors DO attend council meetings / public meetings. Sadly it is the reporters from the longer established print titles that do not, nor do their dwindling number of reporters have the local knowledge and contacts that we have built up over many years.
Hyperlocal news site such as the Caerphilly Observer and Everything Epping Forest are the future for providing local news.
EEF has been such a success that I launched a ‘sister site’ Everything Harlow – http://www.everythingharlow.co.uk – 18 months ago, and advertisers can now benefit from reduced rates for advertising on both the sites (and ad rates start at £50 for a year anyway!)
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