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Local News and Information Online

I recentely read an online article with local news. Nowhere in the article does it actually name the state and the name of the publication is generic enough it doesn't give clues as to the location.

I poked around the site and found a county name somewhere, maybe in the same article, maybe in a different article. I googled the city name and the spelling is unusual such that it might be a unique city name though there are definitely other cities with names that sound the same.

If this article were printed in a physical newspaper bought locally, using just the city name would be fine. You would know from context exactly which city was intended.

But when an article is posted online, people can potentially trip across it from anywhere in the world. You are no longer talking to just locals and even if the city name is unique, not everyone will automatically know that.

Don't assume your audience will go digging for more info like I did to try to figure out exactly where you are.

Whether it's a local news article or some other local website of some sort, make sure people can readily identify exactly where you are. If it is an American city, as a minimum, the name of the state should be included somewhere.

This is an issue I have tripped across repeatedly in recent years. It seems to be a big problem with locally written online resources. They write the piece as if they are only talking to locals and then post it online where, no, they aren't only talking to locals any longer.

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