The news in Nelson, B.C.
I spent last weekend in Nelson, B.C., a sweet little arts community tucked into the Kootenay Mountains. I took the photograph above (click to enlarge) outside the offices of the city’s newspaper, the Nelson Daily News. For a second I thought these men were about to take down the sign and that the paper had folded. This was not the case.
You’ll notice I didn’t link to Daily News’ website above. That’s because there isn’t one, at least as far as I could tell. I found a few sites out there that still link to www.nelsondailynews.com, but that goes nowhere.
As more people are turning to the Internet for news (at least in the U.S.), what does that mean for small towns like Nelson? Sure, there’s plenty of national and international news online. But when the hometown daily doesn’t have a Web presence, where do these Internet readers turn for local news?
Apparently places like ilovenelson.com, “Nelson’s Community Website.” It has news in the traditional sense, but it’s in the form of links to provincial and national sources. It has classifieds and an events calendar. The site also features several regular columns. I’m not sure that this works as a substitute for a local daily online news source, but there’s one thing this site has figured out: interactivity.
ilovenelson.com offers free membership to the community, enabling users to post to the classified ads, events. View your personal dashboard and keep track of all your posts and personal options.
I can only speculate about why the Daily News doesn’t have a website right now. But its disappearance hasn’t left a total void. Just another reminder of how newspapers large and small have to keep interactivity in mind as we look to serve those growing audiences.
