Response to Meg Heckman's article

Meg Heckman, a well-known journalist in the area, is coming to our class today to speak about her visit to Local Independent Online News Publishers Association summit, but she asked us to read an article she recently wrote for netnewscheck.com before class. 

I'll let you read it, but it's a report on LION's first summit in Chicago. It was a gathering of 75 journalists who are dedicated to local and hyperlocal journalism. As Meg puts it, it was "a study in the paradox of local digital journalism."

The article reflected a very optimistic attitude at the summit, something that you don't hear too often when it comes to the future of journalism, but I really enjoyed how much support local journalism is getting through LION. I recently wrote about my local newspaper's publisher filing for bankruptcy, and how it was kind of an eye opener. The threat of papers going under is real, and this news only solidified that.

But after reading Meg's article, I am more hopeful than I was last week. It's cleat that people still care about local journalism, and even if the the publisher doesn't stay up, maybe The Westford Eagle will find a way to live.