I follow 5-6 news stations on Twitter. A couple radio stations set up profiles last week. Interestingly, a friend just posted the following article on Twitter, http://www.thepomoblog.com/thursday-september-4-2008. See

ANCHORS REINVENTING THEMSELVES, THANKS TO THE WEB
GUSTAV BLOGGERS BRING IN THE NEWS

News anchors are watching Twitter for some of the latest-breaking stories.

Regarding Social Media and Twitter, I have to confess that I’m torn by the signal-to-noise ratio. I’d prefer a lot less noise; however, I’ve met people I never would have crossed paths with other than SM involvement.

Anyway, I am going to set some time aside to thoroughly read your Hyperlocal Blogging series. News and community organizations would do well to seek your services with a combination approach with Social Media.

The fire situation has been totally crazy. As a fellow Californian, I agree. We don’t have TV, and last I heard, the county I live in no longer even has a local news station. Radio is in sorry shape as well. The solution definitely does seem to be in the Internet. I’m not an SM buff, but sounds like Twitter provides a good answer, as does the concept of a hyperlocal blog. Many small towns print only weekly or monthly newspapers. When something like a fire is happening in your small town, you need to know NOW what’s going on…not two weeks from now, and not about the status of the nearest major city.

This is an interesting subject, indeed. Enjoyed your post.
Miriam