In a July 16, 2007 article on the Washington Post website, staff writer Frank Ahrens writes about the Post's launch of LoudounExtra.com, a hyperlocal journalism site that will combine traditional reporters and photographers with bloggers, videographers, and extensive searchable databases focused on the Loudoun community, just outside of Washington, DC in Northern Virginia.Ahrens writes:The Washington Post Co. today is launching LoudounExtra.com, an aggressive online push into hyperlocal journalism, combining traditional reporters and photographers with bloggers, videographers and extensive databases on schools, businesses and churches.If the project is successful, The Post Co. plans to build similar sites for the rest of Northern Virginia, Maryland and the District. The project is part of The Washington Post's strategy to dominate local news and advertising and to enhance its relevance as an information provider.The Web site represents a departure from how The Post and other big metropolitan dailies have covered local communities. Instead of focusing on major events, LoudounExtra will attempt to provide a comprehensive look at local news, from church schedules to high school sporting events to restaurant hours and menus. The effort highlights a problem of major newspapers in the Internet age: the need to balance national reporting with service to Web-savvy local readers.Like many newspapers, The Post is losing readers and advertisers to the Internet and other media. Average daily circulation of The Post has dropped from its high of 832,232 in 1993 to 663,900 now. First-quarter print advertising revenue at The Post was down 16 percent in 2007 from the comparable period last year. Meanwhile, traffic and ad revenue at Washingtonpost.com have been climbing.The LoudounExtra is the most recent, and possibly most ambitious, example of a major metro daily newspaper altering century-old game plans and adopting tactics that might, in the past, have seemed more suited to community newspapers...Click here to read Ahrens' article in its entirety on the Washington Post website.Click here to visit LoudounExtra.com.