See me. Feel me. Touch me. Read me.

The trend toward hyper-local news continued this week as Seattle-based Fisher Communications announced the launch of 38 neighborhood news Web sites.

Fisher operates radio and TV stations in Oregon, Seattle and Idaho. The company said the new "hyper-local" sites combine reporting from its stations with online Web templates. As with many hyper-local outlets, much of the content is user-generated.

Hyper-local sites are one of the latest attempts by traditional media outlets to recapture lost ad revenues, as more advertising dollars are spent on new technologies.

Um…like…you know

In communications, “trigger words” are those words or phrases that press our buttons and cause a strong emotional reaction. So which word pulls the biggest trigger?

According to a Marist poll released yesterday, “whatever” tops the list. The poll found that 47% of Americans just can’t stand “whatever.” Other terms Americans found annoying include “you know” and the ever-popular “it is what it is.”

The poll breaks down distaste of particularly grating words by region, age, income, education, race and gender.

Read the whole story here. Or don’t. Whatever.

Balancing Act

A pretty decent definition of “journalism” comes from a most unlikely source: Fox News. Bernie Goldberg makes some pretty good points about what it means to be a fair reporter on Bill O’Reilly’s show.

However, O’Reilly deserves a demerit or two for telling Bernie not to give him additional info “because then I have to go back and research it.” Do journalists really avoid facts just so they don’t have to do the leg work?

TV or Not TV

According to Reuters, Americans are watching an average of 151 hours of television a month. Great news for networks and advertisers.

The only problem is that the ways people watch (and what they watch) are changing. New technologies mean more ways to view and old rating systems need to catch up. Broadcasters, advertisers and media buyers are joining forces to develop new ways of keeping tabs. Read the whole story here.