Local news works for Telegraaf Media Groep

Dutch newspaper publisher Telegraaf Media Groep is expanding it’s hyperlocal news pilots, called dichtbij.nl (nearby.nl), to cover the entire country. Initiator and editor in chief Local Online Bart Brouwers states that the sites are successful, but at the same time indicates they are a work in progress.

In Eindhoven, Woerden, Zwolle and Heino, dichtbij.nl is experimenting with new business models, aggregation and communities for online journalism. According to Brouwers, the different part did not fully work in separation. By combining them, the results should grow to exceed the sum of the parts. “A combination of the three works best. They all contribute to the desired effect, but none of them lead to the entire effect by themselves,” Brouwers says.

The pilot in Eindhoven was therefore expanded over the last months to combine the elements aggregation, community and commerce. And with success. Although he didn’t reveal exact data, Brouwers indicates the pilot nears the break-even point.

Over the coming months, dichtbij.nl will be rolled out to other regions. In Brabant (4 portals) and the region around the capitol (23 portals), dichtbij will start from 1 July with local edited news sites, supported by a local community. A total of 82 portals will be launched across the Netherlands. In most instances, it will just be an aggregation site at first. Some sites will be staffed with several editors “to create and aggregation-plus model.”

Users can personalise the site to indicate how large the region is they want to receive news from.

Source: Emerce (in Dutch)