What's driving Seattle's hyperlocal scene is the commitment of talented journalists eager not just to leverage online platform strengths (and social media), but to live the niche level of interest of their readers. In each case, there's the distinct feel of an entrepreneurial passion project, not all that different from the usual start-up M.O. In time, this has resulted in the kind of readership that advertisers can be talked into paying for the chance to reach, even though online advertising remains in a larval stage.
Dim Sum Digital 
I guess I must be too old because I find the use of an adjective like ‘entrepreneurial’ for journalists somewhat spurious. Consider other professionals that can set up small businesses based around their skills – a lawyer, doctor, dentist, accountant and so on.
They can be called entrepreneurial. Yet the closest thing to that which journalists have is freelance work; unlike a private practice or partnership there are little barriers to entry. Some kid with a cheap Nikon and a notepad can emerge from his suburb and ‘do journalism’ without needing an education or much of anything else.
It’s debatable in this day and age if journalism is a ‘profession’ – I mean what skill beyond writing bad prose filler do a lot of people who are employed in our supposed ‘profession’ have exactly? Where is the expertise that defines the medical or legal fields?
I’d love your opinion on this Sarah. The SunBreak’s write-up reminds me of what I go through every passing week when it comes to work; you ask places you’re trying to sell work to to get something to a good standard, but they deny you even if time isn’t much of a factor with the report. Tiimes I’ve heard that bullshit about ‘deadlines’ or ‘no space available in the following issue’…the falsehood over what is basically a faux-pressure on time just depresses me more than anything.
Pete @ dirtygarnet.com
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