In Toronto. Have been for a couple of days, attending meetings. Met with some folks from Canadian Press, and in our talks I dropped a couple of bon mots that I need to archive here.

I gave the CP folks permission to use these phrases (because they asked); I just want to claim them here, now.

Regional is the new global.

We were talking about the increasing demand in online news users and audiences for local, regional information. The cool thing about the interweb – while being hailed for making the world smaller – is also the perfect tool for niche communities to keep in touch with each other, even if they are just down the street from each other.

The return of the beat reporter.

Traditional news agencies, in an attempt to stay legitimate and competitive in the changing media landscape, have started to equip their reporters with multimedia tools so they can not only file traditional text stories, but also audio and video.

It is an opportunity to provide extra context to those stories, and while – I believe – everyone would be better suited if the video and audio were being created by professionals, instead of professional writers, this is an interesting trend in the industry of news journalism.

Because as the news presented on television and in newspapers becomes increasingly centralized, having reporters on the ground and on the street, even if they are doing double and triple duties, is akin to the old days of beat reporters.