Aber, where brollies threaten shoot 'em ups

The "website credits" page of the fresh-faced Cambrian News is blank.
That's a shame because the site is a brave take on what a local paper's online presence should be. The printed Cambrian retains a consistent, trustworthy feel albeit clearly suffering a worryingly visible resource-depression.
But the website tries something a little different and, although imperfect, is to be cheered.
Top left on the home page - http://www.cambrian-news.co.uk/ - is the journal's splendidly traditional Telegraph-style masthead. Laid beneath it is an admittedly insipid evocation of the mountains that shield this delicious West Wales area from the rest of the UK like a referee's blind spot protects Thierry Henry.
Brightly coloured modules carry story and index texts. The colours are moderately complementary in the way that X Factor finalists loosely embellish Dermot O'Leary's stage.
Rather thrillingly there's only one story at the head of the home page at any one time. Yes, there's a rolling menu of three tales from the top of the Aberystwyth agenda, but to see just the single yarn at any one time is refreshing. In this age of info-overload, too many newspaper websites slam the reader with a panoply of stories and attention-grabbers that simply have our trigger fingers dancing straight back to Google.
Cambrian News Online becomes busier as the page scrolls down. But the ads are kept neatly to the sides, there's a prominent plug which makes it easy to buy an e-version of the latest print edition and there's a splendid submitted photo which captures a lightning strike over Machynlleth.
Throughout, the headline font's a tad '90s, the video content seems restricted to the Stereophonics' latest bit of rough-with-smooth-edges pop and there's a depressing proliferation of ads bigging up the paper's own services.
But the navigation's simple, the speed's quick and the words are given plenty of room to breathe. Moreover, the stories are great! Check out: Man who killed wife in sleep was dreaming of boy racers and Did umbrella spark armed police siege?.
So, don't be shy, Cambrian ... get the names of the web team's bright boys and girls on that credits page. And give 'em a nice bright purple.

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