Beatbloggers prepare to operate the parish pump

"Local meetings and events ... identifying grassroots issues of importance to residents ..."
The work of your trusty local newspaper reporter? Maybe, but the words actually appear in a sits-vac ad for the rather more broad-church Guardian. They've coined the word "beatblogger" to cover a new role to be employed in three UK cities - Leeds, Cardiff and Edinburgh.
Guardian Local is, according to those recruiting, a small-scale experiment in local news gathering and the beatbloggers will be at the coalface. They'll report from events and meetings using a range of tools – text, photos, video and audio, they'll identify and link to material produced by bloggers, journalists and other sources and they'll build a network of community contacts.
There's a lot more too - the beatblogger will identify opportunities for partnerships and collaborations to build content, he or she will nourish links to other online resources and will be responsible for ensuring all elements of the local page are fresh and relevant.
There's a whole lot more too - check out the job description at http://bit.ly/2Ph9qi - so could this be an intriguing peek into the future or will the experment fizzle out like a Cheryl Cole solo project?
Launch editor Sarah Hartley is quoted as saying she's impressed by the "range and depth of coverage from local websites and blogs." Indeed, this material has been evolving beautifully - and there'll be many more great advances to come.
A piece from the Guardian (below) also touches upon the themes of local being important, of one US broadcaster winning huge public funding for a local news project and of the possibility that the Press Association could be subsidised to cover local courts and councils.
So let's hope the Guardian invests in (and appropriately rewards) genuine journalistic talent to fill its beatblogger roles - and let's hope even better things come of the wider movement back towards local accountibility

See http://bit.ly/yxDN