Guardian to close local news websites
The Guardian has today confirmed that it is 'retiring' its local news project and closing community websites serving Leeds, Cardiff and Edinburgh.
The paper said the three sites would be wound down "over the next month or so" because "the project is not sustainable in its current form".
It launched Guardian Local in March 2010 and recruited beatbloggers John Baron (Leeds), Hannah Waldram (Cardiff), and Michael MacLeod (Edinburgh) to report on news and council meetings in their cities.
But despite praising their efforts for having "real impact", the Guardian's head of digital engagement, Meg Pickard, today announced that the "experiment" had been canned.
Pickard wrote in a blogpost: "As an experiment in covering local communities in a new way, it has been successful and enlightening. Unfortunately, while the blogs have found engaged local readerships and had good editorial impact, the project is not sustainable in its present form.
"So over the next month or so, we're going to be winding down the Cardiff, Leeds and Edinburgh blogs and retiring the local project."
In the absence of the hyperlocal services, Pickard said the Guardian would "integrate communities and topics into our wider site coverage wherever possible".