A fascinating aspect of the Mumbai attacks that has been much-discussed but can't be overemphasized to BIM's local media clients is how the first reports of the attacks were filed. It wasn't via an AP story or a locally based cameraman who happened to be in the area.

One of the first reports was from a visiting Harvard professor who filed reports to his Twitter page and to his blog as reported in this NYTimes.com article:

Some interesting things to consider as a result of this occurrence:

• The chances of a Citizen Journalist such as Mr. Shanbhag being in the area of breaking news are infinitely greater than the chances of a salaried (or even free-lance) Associated Press, Reuters, or traditional media reporter.
• Any traditional media outlet that does not effectively harness the power of social media, and allow users to not only impact but in many cases dictate their coverage, will become less and less relevant in the coming years (months?)
• Given that CNN lost its broadcast license in the midst of the crisis (to quote, ""Live satellite transmission from India has to be approved by the Indian government," CNN spokesperson Nigel Pritchard tells TVNewser. "Unfortunately, the officials are not extending CNN's live transmission license") how much did iReport help CNN in maintaining coverage?
• Why did he upload to his own blog and to Twitter before uploading to a site such as www.boston.com or to any of the local Boston-area TV station websites? Or, for that matter, why not to the NYTimes.com (the paper that wrote the story about his posts)?
• Given that Mr. Shanbhag is based in Boston, he must have been exposed to local promotions and user outreach efforts from the local Boston media. But, if I go to www.boston.com, it's very difficult to find a link where a user might upload a photo or video regarding breaking news (let alone maintain a blog).

These questions and observations are critical as local media sites look to find a way to beat the recession and climb back out of the advertising slump. Until we can engage local users so that they realize our sites actually revolve around them, and that we'll eagerly embrace verified breaking news when they send it our way, local sites will lose out to the big portals and exploding social media sites.

YouNews™ is BIM's answer to connecting with your audience in this manner, but whatever the solution is let's make sure the next big breaking news story is broken locally first.