Sentiment analysis is quite easy given enough source material. However, this type of open source intelligence requires skilled researchers. A lot of the relevant sources are not machine accessible, and the investigative process is driven by hunches and incomplete qualitative data. Even distinguishing between relevant and irrelevant source material can be a difficult task for the most skilled researcher.

A lot of newspapers have horrible websites. Aside from aesthetics, search is broken on many of these sites. Another problem is local government, city council minutes and other information is not made available in digital format.

I work at a newspaper that is a controlled by a corporate office across the country. (They know best) I also live in a small town that has been slow to adopt technology.

Given the signals intelligence of small town newspapers I always wondered why there wasn't a company that gave out really cheap 'site build/management' software for these folks with a proviso buried deep deep deep inside the terms of service that gave the hosting company a right to see all the data.

I'd imagine it looks a lot like WPEngine but with a more newsy flair.

This sounds like a great idea.

Another possible solution would be to crowd source the data gathering. Maybe a news link aggregator with strict organization.