Local news, advertising and commerce took center stage at the MIT Enterprise Forum dinner last night in Bellevue. While it was one of many subjects discussed, local (and “hyperlocal” and “microlocal”) strategies and opportunities were given the most attention by the speakers at a dinner called “Breaking News: How will the pieces be put back together again?”

The highlight for me was seeing the founder and editor of West Seattle Blog, Tracy Record, positioned on stage next to MSNBC.com president Charlie Tillinghast. Two years ago, who would have believed that a neighborhood news site would warrant the same consideration as one of the giants in the online news world. (And the event planners did plenty of due diligence in finding and screening speakers, interviewing more than 20 people – including me – to fill four spots.)

The conversation was mostly entertaining and occasionally informative for someone who follows the disruption of news media by technology, but probably more informative to the general audience. Todd Bishop of TechFlash did a masterful job moderating, keeping the conversation flowing while challenging the panelists with more than just softball questions. The most interesting points included:

• Patricia Lee Smith of the Seattle Times repeating time and again that she didn’t have an audience problem, just a revenue problem, and that she needed technology to solve it. She rattled off a host of statistics to illustrate how viable print remains as a medium for advertisers (including the U.S. pre-print business is nearly $6.7 billion a year and up 30% and accounts for 90% of coupons redeemed in-market.)
• Tillinghast reported that MSNBC.com had a record revenue year and profits missed projections by only 1%. “We’re making plenty of money,” he said. Which begged the question (that didn’t get asked): how is MSNBC.com monetizing its audience better than seattletimes.com? Is it the strength of a national brand/audience or simply the lack of a legacy business to support?
• Record said her operation continues to grow and is looking to bring on more people to assist in the growth. So, again, revenue apparently isn’t a problem for a hyperlocal operation – if done right. Which is why big companies like Fisher are jumping into the fray, hoping to tap into some of that marketplace, a strategy Smith didn’t think was too promising. “Where’s the money?” she repeatedly asked when queried about hyperlocal opportunities.
• And even though her business is doing fine, Record didn’t think her operation should be attempted at scale by big companies, either. She cited a letter someone forwarded her from a town on the East Coast that’s the location of a new Patch.com site as an example of how a company like AOL (Patch.com’s owner) is missing the point: the letter told the resident that the new Patch editor couldn’t wait to “learn all about your community.” That’s much different than Record’s model, which grew out of already knowing all about the community.
• Bishop asked Tillinghast about the future plans for hyperlocal aggregator Everyblock, a website and team MSNBC.com recently acquired. Contrary to popular assumption, Tillinghast said Everyblock, which was launched with a $1.1 million Knight News Challenge grant, may not be integrated into the flagship MSNBC.com site but rather grown as an independent entity.

Since the audience allegedly included several investors, Bishop joked at the beginning that if the panelists, which also included 1Cast’s Anthony Bontrager, wanted to form a joint venture, they probably wouldn’t get out of the room without at least a little angel money. Mirroring the recent trend with these discussion, there is more optimism than hand-wringing, which is refreshing. After all, as I’ve often said, the news business isn’t dying, it’s just changing.

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