ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors provide an overview of scholarly concerns about the decline of the local press. For many scholars, hyperlocal journalism can potentially fulfil the role of rejuvenating a 'denigrated' public sphere whose journalism is "turning people off citizenship rather than equipping them to fulfil their democratic potential". The authors begin by looking at scholarly concerns over the impact a declining local press has on democracy before arguing that hyperlocal news is situated at the juncture of alternative and bourgeois public spheres. Kristy Hess and Lisa Waller argue that scholars need a "greater focus on the social and cultural dimensions of hyperlocal news alongside its economic and political importance". As Christian Fuchs points out, "alternative media at the form level of the products have a radical potential if they transcend their societal context and have the potential to subvert experience".
