<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The purpose of this article is to shed light on a new phenomenon in the media landscape, namely public organisations taking on the role of news producers. The analysis focuses on the digital news site VGRfokus, which is run by the Swedish county council Region Västra Götaland (VGR). The articulated goal of VGRfocus is to fill a perceived news gap in the county. Using previous literature on hyperlocal media as a lens for the analysis, we discuss how a regional news outlet produced by a public organisation can be characterised and understood. Based on our case study, we show that, while VGRfokus partly resembles other newcomers, it also has features that make it a very special news producer. This distinctiveness relates in particular to the fact that VGRfokus is part of a large, public organisation and holds ambitions to promote the work of the county council and represent its geographical area. This places issues concerning trustworthiness and credibility at the centre of the discussion and raises questions about democratic implications.</p></abstract>

The purpose of this article is to shed light on a new phenomenon in the media landscape, namely public organisations taking on the role of news producers. The analysis focuses on the digital news site VGRfokus, which is run by the Swedish county council Region Västra Götaland (VGR). The articulated goal of VGRfocus is to fill a perceived news gap in the county. Using previous literature on hyperlocal media as a lens for the analysis, we discuss how a regional news outlet produced by a public organisation can be characterised and understood. Based on our case study, we show that, while VGRfokus partly resembles other newcomers, it also has features that make it a very special news producer. This distinctiveness relates in particular to the fact that VGRfokus is part of a large, public organisation and holds ambitions to promote the work of the county council and represent its geographical area. This places issues concerning trustworthiness and credibility at the centre of the discussion and raises questions about democratic implications.

Public Organisations as News Producers

Nordicom Review

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

An odd species in the local media landscape

The purpose of this article is to shed light on a new phenomenon in the media landscape, namely public organisations taking on the role of news producers. The...

Public Organisations as News Producers

Published Online: Oct 16, 2019

Page range: 85 - 100

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2019-0028

Keywords
local media landscape, hyperlocals, strategic communication, news production, county council

© 2019 Grafström, M. & Rehnberg, H. S. published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Public Organisations as News Producers

Published Online: Oct 16, 2019

Page range: 85 - 100

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2019-0028

Keywordslocal media landscape, hyperlocals, strategic communication, news production, county council

© 2019 Grafström, M. & Rehnberg, H. S. published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
local media landscape, hyperlocals, strategic communication, news production, county council