sr2 blog: the concept document

8/14/2019 SR2 Blog: The Concept Document

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My proposed concept is a community-run hyperlocal* news website,dedicated to the SR2 geographical area o Sunderland.

Such hyperlocal news sites are springing up around (and outside)the United Kingdom, increasing access to the necessary technol-ogy and a zooming-out o mainstream local news the likely catalysts.BBCs regional coverage, or example, is limited to a hal -hour dailybulletin taking news rom Tyneside, Teesside, Wearside, North York-shire and Cumbria - unless extraordinary, SR2 news will not eature.Similarly, SR2s most local news provider, the Sunderland Echo, cov-ers an approximate 25 miles square radius, so leaving hyperlocalareas like SR2 in something o a news de cit. That is the vacuumhyperlocal news sites like SR2 BLOGare beginning to inhabit.

Recognising the signi cant potential or hyperlocal networks o news,big mainstream media have arrived on the scene. Trinity Mirror, Associ-ated Northcli e, the Guardian are all parents o a network o hyperlocalnews sites, while ITN, Guardian Media Group and Johnston Press are in

talks over a hyperlocal consortia proposed by O com and DReport. Accounting or the engaged nature o the contributorence, the news o these hyperlocal sites tends to be politicalwith most emphasis on the relevant local authority. Typical ninclude planning applications to the Council, residents coner events pieces and aggregated coverage rom other news*What is hyperlocal news?Hyperlocal news is in ormation relevto small communities and neighbourhoods (the postcode Sample) o ten overlooked by mainstream media or reasons I (in Why? ).

R2 BLOG a community-run news site for sunderland sr2

h your news

Proposed concept

Concept document Josh halliday

mission statement SR2BLOGwill bring together like-minded engagedcitizens whose concerns and interests can be e ectivexpressed on a collaborative website. The aim is orcial news site; users (meaning publishers and visitcontributing to a greater knowledge o Sunderland its residents, events, businesses and prospects.

Where? SR2BLOGwill publish news happening inside the SR2 postcodedistrict o Sunderland. Thats roughly 4 miles square, in comparison tothe Sunderland Echo patch (roughly 25 miles square.)

Speci cally, the wards and neighbourhoods SR2BLOGwill coverare:

- Hendon

- Ashbrooke- Grangetown- Hillview- Ryhope- Thornhill

How? SR2BLOGwill be initially entirely unded by advertising.

Advertisers will be businesses and organisations based in and around

Sunderland SR2. Typical advertisers include: Student Diggs studentaccomodation provider, Pizzarama takeaway, Vaughan Hart nancialadvisers, The Rosedene pub and restaurant, Bodyline tness centre,Chinese Kitchen restaurant and The Wild Bunch forist - all based inSunderland SR2. SR2BLOGwill use three-click advertising inter-mediary, Addiply, to ensure advertisements site visitors see are directly

relevant. Addiply is ast becoming the advertisement host osimilar news sites inside and outside the UK.

Advertising will initially cost 2 per month. The rationale behind this that SR2BLOGhas no pretences about the quantity o vieit will get week-to-week - its an experimental venture not ssensational headlines in search engines, but a loyal userbastakes time.

online centres in sunderland


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How? continued... Advertising costs 2 per month, speci cally, or a reason too. Heres themaths: One years GoDaddy hosting (and domain ownership) o SR2 BLOGcosts $67.58, thats 40.59, give or take fuctuations in in-fation rates. For the oreseeable uture, there will be our advertisingplaces on SR2BLOG, each costing the advertiser 2 per month;should our advertisements be placed or 12 months, thats 96 in-come - paying o the rst year o hosting (10/2009 - 10/2010), thesecond year o hosting (10/2010 - 10/2011) and with 14.88 le t tocover overheads (christmas cards, etc.)

The idea is that SR2BLOGwill rst be able to cover its costs, no

one in the UK hyperlocal space is yet making a viable livia website.

Over the next 12 months, SR2BLOGwill be an unsalaried part-time post or me, and have voluntary status or others wantintribute. For me, SR2BLOGwill reach critical mass when therat least our advertisers (advertising or a minimum o 2 per month)and two regular contributors. At that time, I will actor in tpaying a fat rate or (minimum o ) 300-word contributions. would likely start at 5 or 300-word pieces.

why now?

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In October 2009, the Guardian announced the launch o their orayinto local journalism with the project, Guardian Local, which will be asmall-scale experimental approach to local newsgathering, accordingto Director o Digital Content or Guardian News & Media, Emily Bell.Sarah Hartley, Guardian Locals launch editor, said, While researchingdevelopments at the grassroots o community journalism, Ive beenimpressed by the range and depth o coverage rom local websitesand blogs. This experimental project refects both the shi ting natureo journalism and the reality on the ground and has said that the UK,speci cally, is currently experiencing a ast-changing local news land-scape. This Big Media move into hyperlocal journalism ollows on the

back o hyperlocal news websites launched by Newsquest, AssociatedNorthcli e, Johnston Press and Trinity Mirror.

Research by Rachel Davis Mersey, published in Journalism Practice 3:3, titled Online News Users Sense o Community, asserted that localnews providers next move should be to explore the potential o theWeb. The challenge to local newspapers in light o dwindling circula-tion gures nationwide is to stay geographically relevant, Mersey said,adding, Focusing on the potential o the Web to serve geographic com-munities should be the driver o uture industry innovations and in-dustry-oriented research[...]With nearly limitless space constraints,the Web can o er newspapers the opportunity to provide expansivecoverage o geographic areas without increased material and printingcosts. This geographic ocus can be ampli ed with additional report-ing, citizen-produced news, ormal or in ormal weblogs, and additionaletools. From panel discussions at the 2009 Society o Editors Con er-ence, lecturer in Journalism at University o Sunderland, Julie Brad ord,similarly recorded, All panel say hyperlocal is way orward.

Whether the a orementioned Big Media embarked on hyperlocal newssites excited at the opportunity and potential o such projects, or sim-ply to out-resource and square-o any independent start-ups is a moot

point. The point stands that dwindling resources - sta , time andmoney - at local and regional newspapers is likely to have an

averse e ect on how well-in ormed the constituents arethey a ect to in orm - as i local and regional news hasbecome zoomed-out, contributing to a de-localisation

o its news and a news vacuum in some neighbourhoods.

It is also relevant here to look at one o the likely direction news publishing. Analysing a breakdown o his hyperlocal content, NEast Phillys Christopher Wink (www.neastphilly.We know there is not one solution or this sustainable newsation, but participatory journalism sure seems like a big pme. With the help o a Knight Foundation News ChallengePhilly plans to create a sustainable network o pro essionacitizen journalists to cover their own neighbourhood civicand local events. Wink estimates around 40% o NEast Ph

rently aggregated coverage, which he describes as Makingreaders know every link, story and conversation online thatto your coverage[...]It will certainly become a big part o news-gatherers in the uture. Winks Philadelphia project lto what new media commentator, Je Jarvis, calls networkism - pro essionals and amateurs working together to gestory, linking to each other across brands and old boundariacts, questions, answers, ideas, perspectives. It recognises plex relationship that will make news. And it ocusses on thmore than the product.

The uture o online news - as Jarvis, Wink and many othersbe more o a conversation between publisher and audienceMedia (2004), Dan Gillmor, purported, Big media[...]treatas a lecture. We told you what the news was[...]Tomorrowsporting will be more o a conversation, or a seminar...

East (and South) Sunderland, the area encompassing Sundand SR2BLOG, is anecdotally the most vibrant region on Wside, with more community- ocussed events, Area Forums(and growing) Residents Associations. There has never ba news-oriented website or Sunderland SR2; everything lward, now seems an opportune time to ride both waves ana respected news site that works hand-in-hand with its vicontribute to a greater knowledge o Sunderland SR2, its events, businesses and prospects.


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There are ve common news sources or the news o a hyperlocal web-site. These are:

- Minutes rom council planning meetings (published in adarkened corner o the council website);- Emergency service voicebank;- Aggregated relevant coverage rom other news sources;- Diary events;- Matters that arise during Residents Association meetings,police neighbourhood engagement meetings etc.

What News? (and where from?)

news sources 23/10/09 - 12/12/09

news sources predicted for 2010

green: diary eventsorange: aggregated coverage

red: voicebankslight blue: council documents

dark blue: o -diarygrey: content o community meetings

green: diary eventsorange: aggregated coveragered: voicebankslight blue: council documentsdark blue: o -diarygrey: content o community meetings

EXAMPLES OF NEWS FEATURE

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expected growth

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All research considered, I have ormulated the ollowing expectationor the user growth o SR2 Blog 12 months rom its launch in October2009.

Calculating the percentage o hypothetical Sunderland-based userso SunderlandEcho.com, getting news about Sunderland and the sur-

rounding region, I ound that approximately 4% o the population o Sunderland (source: 2001 census) visit SunderlandEcho.com every day(source: ABCEs Jan-Jun 2009) - presuming those visitors are based inSunderland. Anecdotally, the ootball news on SunderlandEcho.com isconsistently the most visited topic and, coupling the increased SearchEngine-ready nature o publishing and heightening pro le o Sunder-land AFC, the 4% gure is likely to be in the sense that users could belanding on SunderlandEcho.com rom anywhere in the world.

I thought it would be use ul to make these calculations to try gaugesome idea o the proportion o local people reading geographically-rel-evant online news. Qualitative research into the eld can be ound withthe O com report on page 06.

The approximate population o Sunderland SR2, going on gures romthe 2001 census, is 30,000-35,000.Hendon - 10,377Ryhope - 13,852No gures or Ashbrooke, Grangetown, Thornhill, or Hillview.Approximate population of Sunderland SR2: 30,000-35,000

Sarah Booker, digital editor o six Johnston Press local newspaper web-sites, told me there was no analysis tool or measuring exact numbero visitors that comment on articles compared with visitors who dontcomment on articles. From approximation though, Sarah said acrossany one o her six websites, ewer than 1% o visitors will place acomment, while the vast majority o the -1% that do comment willbe loyal commenters (conversational commenters), rather than once-in-a-while commenters. Similarly, Richard Kendall, web editor o John-ston Press title The Peterborough Evening Telegraph, said there wascurrently no way o quanti ying such data, though he did reveal that

(PET website) PeterboroughToday.co.uk now gets approaching 3,000comments a month and, according to ABCE gures rom Jan-Jun 2009,gets a monthly average o 162,149 Unique User/Browsers, equating toroughly 1.85% o visitors leaving comments.

I also spoke to James Rudd, website editor or a hyperlocal news siteconcentrated on approximately 10,000 households in Towcester, andpart o a nationwide network o such sites, ound at AboutMyArea.co.uk. In the week 30/11 to 06/12, James Towcester news site (two years, nine months old) recorded 10,267 visits and two comments.

James pointed out that in order to comment on his site, the visitormust be a registered member o AMA and elt it necessary to add thatthey tend not to run anything very controversial. He also added

that he doesnt want loads o comments as it would becomelike a orum and get hijacked and abused. Across the

whole AMA network o over 2000 community websites, inmonths there have been over 20,000 published articles, 10%were by users - rather than site editors - and around 1000 co

I took this as a use ul indicator o the level o visitor contribu SR2 BLOGcan expect, though there are a ew variables to consi

architecture o SR2BLOGis considerably di erent to that o ano the a orementioned Johnston Press websites, somethinglikely to subconciously eature in the mind o the visitor; th SR2BLOGis also considerably di erent to that o the JohnPress websites - there is, or example, a call-to-action at thevery post in an attempt to get visitors to sign up as publishlarly, SR2BLOGalso has an About page, shedding light inpeople, principles and rationale behind the blog; it may alssay, though Im aware o no research to substantiate the clavisitors are more likely to interact with, and eel more ownea website that is more geographically-relevant to them, ogreater sense o community.

Variables I took into account when approximating expegrowth or the orthcoming 12 months: anecdotal approximthe level o interaction on seven individual local newspapeSunderlandEcho.com ABCEs rom Jan-Jun 2009; approximage o Sunderland population reading geographically-relevonline; national standing o Sunderland and broadband-chouseholds; push on connecting more people to the Internederland City Council; relatively large number o electronic UK online centres in Sunderland SR2; Google orecasting ain searches or Sunderland news in 2010; statistics on pothe various social networking sites on which SR2 BLOGhas apresence.

Three months:~ 800 page impressions /month

Six months:~ 2200 page impressions/month

Nine months:~ 4000 page impressions/month

12 months:~ 6000 page impressions/month

A ordable practicable tasks or acilitating growth and pre SR2BLOGinclude:

- Christmas cards to all businesses and schools withSunderland SR2;- Involvement at UK Online Centres and Electronic

Halls, including o ering training/help;- Involvement at Area Forums, including workshopsquest;- Syndicate content to Spark FM and About My Are

FACILITATING growth


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dO PEOPLE REALLY CONSUME LOCAL NEWS ONLINSource: O com Review o Local Media: Qualitative Findings (July 2009)

Participants in the research report a range o di erent behaviours andattitudes around using websites to consume local content, recordedthe O com report.

Some participants explain that websites are a natural wayto access all types on in ormation including both local in-ormation and news content. These participants say theypre er online consumption o local content as it enables con-venient access and more tailored and targeted local contentconsumption.[..]In contrast, other participants are simply less engaged withthe internet in general, due to either a lack o interest orknowledge o how to use the internet These participants

say i they do use the internet at all, it is restricted tosearching or speci c local in ormation on a small range o local websites, or example using a local newspaper websiteto nd out the details o a particular upcoming event, or alocal council website to nd out what days the recycling willbe collected.Source: http://www.o com.org.uk/consult/condocs/morr/reviewlocal.pd [p. 14]

O local news online, the report summised, Local websites are elt toprovide convenience, choice and control over local content consumptionand act as a one-stop shop or most types o local content. They arethe natural way to access local in ormation or many participants whoalready use the internet regularly in their daily lives.

Participants identi ed the ollowing key bene ts o accessing localnews online:

- Provides choice and control over local content consumption;

- A one-stop-shop or most types o local content;

- Readily accessible source, able to access in ormation on de-mand

The report did, however, say that their respondents appearelimited awareness o the range o local in ormation online

- National newspaper or news media websites;

- Local newspaper websites;

- Event guides on local newspaper websites;

- Entertainment venue websites;

- Local council websites.

You dont have to si t through the paper

or wait or the news, you can just nd itstraight away, you just type in what head-line it is [using websites.] (Mans eld)

Source: http://www.o com.org.uk/consult/condocs/morr/rev[p.14]

Local Government website is handy orlike Easter and bank holidays to nd outwhen they are actually coming to get therubbish. (Ruislip)

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Participants in the research indicated they have seen a change in the local media landscape. Examples included:

- Some titles covering a wider area resulting in some loss o localised content;

- Some titles disappearing altogether;

- Perception o a loss in news content - more advertising, thinner papers;

- Prices o newspapers have risen despite some reduction in content depth;

Source: http://www.o com.org.uk/consult/condocs/morr/reviewlocal


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What are other UK hyperlocal news sites doing? East Yorkshire-based Hedon Blog (hedonblog.wordpress.com) is oneo the longest-running independent hyperlocal news sites in the UK.Launching in January 2009, Hedon Blog averaged 212 unique pageviews in the rst month o going live; by July, Hedon Blog was receiving1,784 unique page views a month, and by September that was up to2,414.

Hedon Blog built its pro le and readership mainly through o fine activ-ity, namely targeted business card and fyer distribution.

Lich eld Blog also launched in January 2009. In Octoberch eld Blog received 40,000 page views in that one montBy November 2009, and still only 11 months old, Lich eldgenerating an income o over 70 in advertising revenue - surpassineven their own expectations.

Unlike Hedon Blog and many other hyperlocal news siteBlog is operated by our media pro essionals and has publitributions rom 12 other voluntary members.

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[...]increased user involvement is having an upward e ect ontotal sur ng times. For example, according to Nielsen, the av-erage UK internet user spent three hours and 40 minutes onmember community sites in September 2008, up 42% on thegure o two hours and 35 minutes or a year previously.

Source: http://www.o com.org.uk/research/cm/icmr08/converge.pd

Towcester News (http://www.aboutmyarea.co.uk/Northamptonshire/Towcester/NN12) is a hyperlocal news site or 10,000 in Towcester,Northamptonshire. Towcester News has been running or approach-ing three years and would appear to have built up a loyal userbase,

apparently recording 10,267 visitors to the site or the week 30/11- 06/12. Site editor, James Rudd, told me his news site had e ectivelyreplace[d] the newspapers, who have little space and very little cover-age o the area.

Success, or me and SR2BLOG, would be to have hit the criticalmass de ned on page 2 within 12 months, to have achieved growth in unique site visitors, to have demonstrated the sitecontent management system at an EVH/Online Centre, to h

valuable and use ul resource that could easily be taken on b(or all) o Sunderland SR2s community organisations.

production plan Technically being a community plat orm has, or SR2 BLOG,al-ways been a top priority. As a parallel to trends in internet usage - O -com research outlined above - website developers, particularly those

developing plugins or the open source WordPress, are likely to seesuch technicalities as a key ocus, thus they should proli erate andimprove.

The nature o WordPress - chosen Content Management System or SR2BLOG- being open source means that there are constentlyextensions being built or greater publisher customisation. There are,or example, currently 7,572 WordPress plugins - 20 o which are in-stalled and active on SR2BLOG.

Example o a simple user-entry xture on the Northcli e-owned hyperlocal newBerkhamsted, Berkhamsted People.

A user inter ace demonstration o SR2BLOGcan be ound on page08.

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08.

USER interface

t

Interactive map with all published nmapped. Sunderland SR2 being thethat it is, the idea is that visitors will aat the site, recognise the mapped area go to their neighbouring streets, pick

up the most relevant news possible.

SR2 neighbourhoods presented as a cable list with quantity o news items.*

t Traditional in-site search. All posts taby street presuming user is looking geo-relevance.

t t Simple email subscription box.

*SR2 neighbourhoods presented as aclickable list with quantity o news items.This appears as one o the rst naviga-tional tools because, unlike many onlinepublishers, the SR2BLOGhomepageindex is not broken down into categories.

I see the SR2BLOG

homepage inter-ace as much simpler and cleaner than theaverage online publisher. t Near real-time eed o the below upda- Twitter.com/SR2Blog

- Delicious.com/joshhalliday/sund- YouTube.com/user/SR2Blog- Twitpic.com/photos/SR2Blog- Sunderland Echo news- BBC Wear news- Sunderland Eye In rmary eedbac- The Huntercombe Centre eedbac- Ryhope General Hospital eedbac

t JoshHallidays del.icio.us bookmarksSunderland - usually council docthat are newsworthy but outside the o Sunderland SR2.

t A eed o Chris Mullin MPs, Membement or Sunderland South, recent actParliament, as recorded by Hansard.

t A eature-heavy ooter that hope ully the site more easily navigatable anddepth in exposing more content.

tWrite or SR2 navigates user to WP registration pag


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the effect of online networks on civic engagement Longitudinal research on 100 US households within a maturecommunity network ound that A community computer net-work* acilitates civic participation by providing pervasive localresources online and by connecting people to local communicationand discussion channels, public and non-pro t organization lead-ers and members, and many other civic resources [A. Kavanaughet al. (2004) Participating in civil society: the case o networkedcommunities. p.1]

Kavanaugh et al on the e ect o community-based websites on civicin ormation distribution:

Further, rein orcing the SR2BLOGgrowth- acilitating plan to in-volve workshops at local Electronic Village Halls and Online Centres, Ka-vanaugh recommended, Community networks should also promote and

support the use by local groups o innovative tools or nonsuch as easy collaborative web-based tools or in ormation pand collaboration (Kavanaugh, 2004).

A community computer network acilitates civiticipation by providing pervasive local resourcline and by connecting people to local communand discussion channels, public and non-pro t o

nization leaders and members, and many otherresources.

*community network: Community-oriented networks seek to acilitatein ormation dissemination, discussion, and joint activity pertaining to mu-nicipal government, public schools, voluntary associations, local events,community issues, regional economic development and social services.

Although political bodies have been required to make most in-ormation accessible to the public, it has been di cult or theaverage citizen to nd and obtain background in ormation anddocumentation on important issues beyond what is reportedin the mass media. Local issues may be covered only in a localnewspaper, radio or television broadcast, but the detailed in-ormation behind the stories is di cult to track down. It is verytime consuming to investigate where background in ormationis, to identi y and make contact with appropriate o cials orsta , or traipse through government buildings, town halls, orpublic libraries seeking records. This has been the specializedwork o media reporters and determined activists. It is gener-ally accepted that Internet tools, such as web browsers andemail, have lowered costs o locating, acquiring and exchang-

ing such in ormation.(Kavanaugh, 2004)

online centres in sunderland

The mission statement o SR2BLOGis to bring togetherlike-minded engaged citizens whose concerns and interestscan be e ectively expressed on a collaborative website. Theaim is or a social news site; users [...] contributing to agreater knowledge o Sunderland SR2, its residents, eventsbusinesses and prospects. I believe everything in this conceptdocument points to the likely success o SR2BLOGas a

community resource.

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SR2 BLOG a community-run news site for sunderland sr2

h your news APPENDIX 1

Ofine:

HendonSource: 2001 Census (http://bit.ly/5k0NkV)

Population: 10,377Full-time workers aged 16-74: 33% (o total population)Part-time workers aged 16-74: 11%Sel -employed workers aged 16-74: 5%Retired workers aged 16-74: 13%Students aged 16-74: 5%Economically inactive (looking a ter home/ amily, permanently sick/

disabled, other): 21%Large employers and higher managerial occupations: 1.6%Higher pro essional occupations: 2.54%Lower managerial and pro essional occupations: 13.42%Aged 16-74 with no quali cations: 36%

Online:Source: Hitwise (data taken from week ending 28/11/2009)http://bit.ly/3qGO8b

YouTube.com/user/SR2BlogYouTube was the sixth most-visited website in the UK ahead o UKmsn, the BBC homepage, Amazon and Wikipedia, amongst others.Out o the social networking websites, YouTube was the secondmost-visited in the UK with 16.16%, only behind Facebook and arexceeding third-placed Bebo.

Facebook Page: SR2 BlogFacebook was the second most-visited website in the UK in the same

time period. Out o the social networking websites, Facebook had arand away the lion share o all UK visits with 51.05%

Twitter.com/SR2BlogTwitter was not amongst the most-visited websites in the UK in thegiven time period. Out o the social networking websites, Twitterranked ourth, with 1.9% o all UK visits.

SunderlandSource: 2001 Census (http://bit.ly/5k0NkV)

Population: 280,807Full-time workers aged 16-74: 37% (o total population)Part-time workers aged 16-74: 11%Sel -employed workers aged 16-74: 4%Retired workers aged 16-74: 14%Students aged 16-74: 4%Economically inactive (looking a ter home/ amily, permane

disabled, other): 19%Large employers and higher managerial occupations: 1.85%Higher pro essional occupations: 2.28%Lower managerial and pro essional occupations: 13.47%Aged 16-74 with no quali cations: 36%

Gazettelive.co.ukSource: ABCE report January-June 2009: http://bit.ly/8zvU0U

Daily average o Unique Users/Browsers: 15,419Monthly average o Unique Users/Browsers: 264, 648

No data available or individual site addresses, though we clist o most visited on monthly averages.

The Gazettes hyperlocal site or Redcar (http://ts10.gazetteliremained the third most-visited GazetteLive.co.uk address i

month rom January to June.SunderlandEcho.comSource: ABCE report January-June 2009: http://bit.ly/6yWtIe

Daily average o Unique Users/Browsers: 11,332Monthly average o Unique Users/Browsers: 182, 106

Statistics compiled by JICREG, taken rom Jan-uary - June 2009, shows the ollowing about

the readership o Sunderland Echo.Female readers: 50,453Male readers: 44,761

Age 15-24: 14343

Age 25-34: 13,494Age 35-44: 15,384

Age 45-54: 12,557Age 55-64: 15,026Age 65-74: 13,828Age 75+: 10,582

ABC1: 33,083

C2DE: 62,130AB: 11,486

C1: 21,598C2: 20,812DE: 41,318

Source: http://bit.ly/5mh6L9u

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sr2 blog: the concept document

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