So if the big UK regional newspaper publishers can’t monetise online local news—just ask Trinity Mirror and Johnston Press—what chance is there for smaller, family groups and amateur community bloggers? Carlisle News & Star publisher CN Group has a plan: the company is starting to pay its non-professional local, community correspondents 25 percent of ad revenue generated by its hyperlocal news sites. CN Group has 20 local sites—here’s one for the Maryport area—and is now trialling the revenue-sharing scheme for existing correspondents as well as advertising for writers in eight areas.

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Unsurprisingly, we’re not talking about a lot of money: Nick Turner, CN Group’s head of digital development, told a Digital Editors’ Network meeting yesterday (via J.co.uk) that sites carrying at least five ads will pay about £80 a month. And he’s adamant it’s not a scheme to counteract cuts in the News & Star newsroom: “This is not a replacement of our local journalism… It’s to assist those journalists and act as a bridge between them and the community, and give them more resources on the ground.” It’s a little like the old-fashioned system of “parish pump” local stringers that metropolitan newspapers would pay for tip-offs, local gossip and greyhound racing results in decades gone by. CN also runs 60 training sessions CN a year for local would-be correspondents with 30 sessions reserved for more advanced writers at the University of Cumbria.