Volunteer Staff of Online News Websites: 1-10 : CJR's Guide to Online News Startups

Mar 1, 2012 04:14 PM

55423.info

A community college-affiliated hyperlocal for Richfield, Minn.

By Leah Binkovitz

55423.info.png RICHFIELD, MINNESOTA — Mark Plenke, a journalism and communications instructor at Normandale Community College, created 55423.info during his recent yearlong sabbatical, envisioning the site as both a news outlet for the town of Richfield and a hands-on course for his students. Before launching the site (which takes its name from Richfield's zip code), Plenke conducted a survey of 43 community members at a...

Jul 27, 2011 02:53 PM

A2Politico

Accountability journalism in Ann Arbor, Mich.

By Erik Shilling

ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN — [UPDATED September 16, 2011] When the daily Ann Arbor News announced in July 2009 that it would cease publication and be replaced by a two day a week print product with a website, the college town of Ann Arbor, Mich. suddenly became, after 174 years, a city without a daily newspaper. That's when Patricia Lesko, a higher-education book publisher and thirty-year...

Jun 8, 2011 12:17 PM

Ars Technica

The old guard of tech news, mixing context, the long view, and a sense of humor

By Isaac Olson

NEW YORK, NEW YORK — Since its founding in 1998, Ars Technica has grown to become a trusted, go-to source for news, reviews, and information about scientific advancements, technological breakthroughs, video gaming, tech policy, gadgetry, software, hardware, and everything in between. However, Ken Fisher, the site's Massachusetts-based founder and editor-in-chief, claims Ars Technica's success as one of the oldest and largest tech-focused websites isn't...

Oct 26, 2011 06:00 PM

Berkeleyside

News and notes from California's most quotable town

By Daniel Luzer

BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA — Frances Dinkelspiel had worked as a journalist for two decades--reporting for the Syracuse Newspapers and the San Jose Mercury News--before she and two other colleagues started Berkeleyside.com. In Dinkelspiel's opinion, Berkeley is too interesting a city not to have its own hyperlocal news site. "The University of California's here, it has this really long liberal radical political tradition, it's the...

Aug 18, 2011 12:25 PM

Birthplace Magazine

News and reviews for the NYC hip hop scene

By Julia Pyper

NEW YORK, NEW YORK — Birthplace Magazine was created with a mission: to highlight the best of New York hip hop. The name comes from New York's status as the musical genre's hometown. Built on a solid foundation of ideas and expertise, the website has gained momentum, but now faces a number of marketing and editorial challenges before it can continue to expand....

May 27, 2011 11:50 AM

Broward Bulldog

Nonprofit investigative journalism for Broward County, Fla.

By Joel Meares

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA — Few states have been hit so hard by the newspaper downturn as Florida. In 2009, The South Florida Sun-Sentinel cut 20 percent of its staff. The same year, McClatchy's Miami Herald cut nearly 200 jobs and stopped distributing its international edition in South America and the Caribbean. Then, in 2011, the paper killed another fifteen jobs and...

Jan 11, 2012 04:06 PM

Brown Line Media

An independently owned network of three sites reporting on Chicago's North Side

By Ian Fullerton

brown.line.media.png CHICAGO, ILLINOIS — Though he writes a vast majority of the posts on his flagship news site, Center Square Journal, Mike Fourcher prefers the title of publisher over journalist. "That's an important distinction," he says. "I do employ journalists... but the person that runs a baseball bat company is not a carpenter." A native Chicagoan, Fourcher launched Center Square in early 2010, after...

Sep 13, 2011 11:23 AM

Buffalo Rising

A grassroots print startup hits its stride online

By Paige Rentz

BUFFALO, NEW YORK — The mission of Buffalo Rising is embedded in its very name. A decade ago, as Elmwood Avenue shop owner Newell Nussbaumer began to witness a resurgence in his native city, he saw grassroots movements growing and activists who needed a voice. He sought to provide that with Buffalo Rising, first a tri-annual and later a monthly print product, and...

Oct 25, 2011 11:54 AM

Burnt Orange Report

A political news blog's move from undergraduate pursuit to progressive stalwart

By Tyler Jones

AUSTIN, TEXAS — In 2002, Republicans gained control of the Texas state legislature for the first time in over a century, allowing then-congressman Tom DeLay a chance to push for an unprecedented voter redistricting that would give Texas Republicans a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. With few progressive watchdogs online in the Lone Star State, undergraduate students at the University of Texas stepped...

Feb 1, 2012 04:52 PM

CalCoast News

Investigations and other news for California's Central Coast

By Chasen Marshall

calcoast.news.png SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA — With major newspapers cutting investigative departments around the country, including along the Central Coast of California, Karen Velie and Dan Blackburn were concerned that major stories would go uncovered. In late 2007, the pair of veteran newspaper reporters launched their own online outlet focused on just the type of journalism they felt was lacking--hard news and investigations. Initially, Velie...

Jan 28, 2012 01:43 PM

CHARLIE Magazine

Perfecting the local online glossy in Charleston, South Carolina

By Chris Benz

charlie.magazine.png CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA — "When you start something, what your role ends up being is quite different than what you imagined it to be," says Caroline Nuttall, founder of CHARLIE, a local culture magazine based in Charleston, South Carolina. Originally a publicist, Nuttall founded the website in 2009, and expanded it successfully to a niche market, profitability, and a part-time staff of...

Feb 23, 2012 05:33 PM

Charlottesville Tomorrow

Nonprofit news on growth, development, and local politics

By Caitlin Kasunich

charlottesville.tomorrow.png CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA — Although Charlottesville Tomorrow publishes a new story almost every day and has a close partnership with the local newspaper, it wasn't supposed to turn out that way. In early 2005, its founders simply wanted to launch a website that citizens could visit for objective, nonpartisan information on growth, development and local politics. "We set out to just be a community...

Jun 20, 2012 12:52 PM

Chicago Phoenix

Chicago LGBT media goes digital (and grows up)

By Ian Fullerton

chicago.phoenix.png CHICAGO, IL — Gay media in Chicago has struggled in its search for identity. In recent years, two of the city's most prominent LGBT publications, Gay Chicago Magazine and the Chicago Free Press, shut down after transitioning from the traditional "bar rag" format, with content centered on entertainment and sex culture, to a more issue-related news and features focus. Some observers speculated that revenue problems...

Aug 1, 2011 11:53 AM

ClearHealthCosts.com

Guiding consumers through the health care marketplace

By Maura R. O'Connor

PELHAM, NEW YORK — Jeanne Pinder had a storied career in print journalism: she was born into a newspaper family and spent twenty-three years at The New York Times. But today Pinder is venturing into new territory by founding a start-up website that aims to bring transparency and accountability to the health care marketplace. ClearHealthCosts.com was launched in beta form by Pinder in...

Jul 21, 2011 05:46 PM

Common Language Project

In-depth human rights reporting and multimedia storytelling

By Connor Boals

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON —In 2005, three friends on their way to becoming freshly anointed college grads had an idea. They were budding journalists with global ambitions who didn't want to sit on their hands while foreign coverage in American newspapers continued to fade. The three, Sarah Stuteville, Alex Stonehill, and Jessica Partnow, decided to take a trip to about a dozen countries in Southeast Asia and...

Jan 26, 2012 01:55 PM

Connecticut Health Investigative Team

Far-reaching niche investigations for the Nutmeg State

By Maura R. O'Connor

connecticut.health.investigative.team.png NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT — In 2010, award-winning journalist Lisa Chedekel published a story detailing how more than a dozen Connecticut doctors who had been sanctioned in other states for illegal or substandard practices were able to practice freely in Connecticut. She found that Connecticut rarely took action against doctors, even when their licenses had been censured in other states. When published in December...

Jan 30, 2012 03:48 PM

Connecticut Watchdog

Hard-hitting consumer protection reporting

By Chris Benz

connecticut.watchdog.png EAST LONGMEADOW, MASSACHUSETTS — The best businesses have a compelling origin story, and George Gombossy's consumer protection website, Connecticut Watchdog, started with a doozy. As of 2009, Gombossy had worked at the Hartford Courant for forty-one years: first as a reporter, then business editor, then as "The Watchdog," a consumer protection columnist. His picture hung on the side of "every bus in Hartford"...

Feb 6, 2012 03:36 PM

Corona del Mar Today

A one-woman news operation for a wealthy Newport Beach, Calif. neighborhood

By David Riedel

carona.del.mar.today.png CORONA DEL MAR, CALIFORNIA — When former newspaper reporter Amy Senk decided to get back into journalism, she wasn't sure how to begin. "When I was reporting, we barely had Internet or e-mail," she says. Senk left her job at the Contra Costa Times in the mid-1990s and focused on raising a family. When her husband was diagnosed with an aggressive blood cancer in late...

Dec 8, 2011 04:11 PM

CountyNewsLIVE.com

A fast-growing news network for rural Missouri

By Caitlin Kasunich

contynewslive.com.png HERMANN, MISSOURI — Although the homepage of Gasconade County's CountyNewsLIVE.com has the look and feel of a simple, straightforward blog, it is actually the first of three frequently updated Missouri-based hyperlocal news websites founded by writer and publisher Jeff Noedel. Launched in March 2008, the Gasconade County site primarily covers rural Hermann, Missouri, a small agricultural town that attracts tourists with its nearby...

May 18, 2011 12:59 PM

Crosscut.com

Robust nonprofit local news coverage for Seattle

By Sara Germano

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON — David Brewster couldn't have been the only Seattle citizen concerned about the potential demise of one of his local papers, but back in the mid-aughts, he was ahead of the curve. In 2006, Brewster, a thirty-five-year veteran of the local media landscape and the founder of alternative newspaper Seattle Weekly, was phasing out of his role as director of Town Hall Seattle, a...

May 3, 2011 12:23 PM

DavidsonNews.net

Ambitious local news site for Davidson, N.C.

By Justin Yang

DAVIDSON, NORTH CAROLINA — David Boraks, a veteran journalist of thirty years and long-time resident of Davidson, N.C., started DavidsonNews.net after returning from a year abroad in China and Taiwan. Upon returning home, Boraks found that staying updated on current news was not as easy as he had remembered, and so he started an online town newsletter. The newsletter soon evolved into a full-blown...

Aug 8, 2011 11:49 AM

Deadspin

Gawker Media's sports news success story

By Erik Shilling

NEW YORK, NEW YORK — For Deadspin, the impish sports wing of the Gawker empire, the presence of a pink gorilla at a hotel meeting between Tommy Craggs, a Deadspin senior editor, and John Walsh, ESPN's executive vice president for content, must have felt like a crowning achievement. The site made its name most recently by publishing pictures of...

Mar 24, 2011 10:41 PM

ecoRI

Community engagement through environmental news (and composting)

By Daniel Denvir

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND — Frank Carini, a Boston native with an accent to match, has gone from sports writing to composting. He founded ecoRI.com in September 2009 after spending twenty years at newspapers on the North Shore in Massachusetts, Cincinnati, and in Newport, Rhode Island. "I was getting sick of the direction of where we were going," he says. "Too much covering press releases and...

Oct 24, 2011 11:00 AM

Eleven Warriors

News and commentary on Ohio State football

By Erik Shilling

PATASKALA, OHIO — Jason Priestas was a lonely Ohio State football fan when he moved to Chicago seven years ago with his wife. He was only a six hour drive from Columbus, but he felt like he was living on the opposite end of the globe. So, in August 2006, he did what many tech-savvy fans do: he started a blog. Five years and several...

Sep 28, 2011 11:48 AM

Engadget

Tech news the AOL way

By Richard Nieva

NEW YORK, NEW YORK — Engadget is a one-stop hub for enthusiastic tech consumers, featuring breaking news updates, product reviews, podcasts, multimedia, and more. Light in tone, just edgy enough to amuse but not offend, and often genuinely informative, it's tempting to compare the site to a tech version of Gawker--and, in fact, Engadget was founded in 2004 by Peter Rojas, the tech...

Oct 31, 2011 11:33 AM

Evanston Now

A hyperlocal news site holds its own in a media-saturated Chicago suburb

By Ian Fullerton

evanston.now.png EVANSTON, ILLINOIS — As a native Evanstonian, Bill Smith remembers a time when the small suburban municipality just north of Chicago had only one paper to its name, the weekly Evanston Review. "For the latter half of the century there had been a few start-ups, but those mostly failed," he says. Today, that field has expanded, thanks in part to Smith, who logs around sixty...

May 7, 2012 01:46 PM

Eye on Annapolis

Unadorned, up-to-the-minute news for Maryland's capital city

By Maura R. O'Connor

eye.on.annapolis.png ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND — Eye on Annapolis, a website covering Maryland's Chesapeake Bay and capital city of Annapolis, has forged a pragmatic model for local news coverage, carving out a niche for itself among the city's media by providing readers quick and frequent news updates. The site focuses on breaking news including traffic reports and crime, as well as a community calendar, coverage of...

May 26, 2011 11:04 AM

FailedMessiah.com

News and investigations from within ultra-orthodox Judaism

By Armin Rosen

ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA — A few days after a team of Navy SEALS killed Al Qaeda mastermind Osama Bin Laden, Shmarya Rosenberg, whose website FailedMessiah.com is perhaps the Internet's only English-language news source devoted to news from the insular world of ultra-orthodox Judaism, received a tip from one of his readers in Brooklyn. The reader had e-mailed him a scanned picture from a Yiddish-language...

Jan 5, 2011 04:17 PM

FairWarning

Consumer-oriented investigative journalism

By Colin Fleming

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — As the Los Angeles Times newsroom braced itself for another round of buyouts in 2008, Myron Levin, an investigative reporter who had tracked corporate misconduct and lax government regulation for the paper for years, thought hard about what he wanted to do with his career. He took a few walks around the block, talked it over with some colleagues, and then finally...

Mar 24, 2011 11:39 AM

Fayetteville Flyer

A music site that made the leap to general news

By Sam Eifling

Fayetteville.Flyer.png FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS — Not long ago Todd Gill and Dustin Bartholomew were part-time musicians working in advertising. In late 2007 they began blogging about the music scene around Fayetteville, Arkansas. Gill saw it as little more than a hobby, but bands, he found, were natural self-promoters, pushing friends and family to read their coverage. Interviewing musicians, reviewing shows, and running a calendar of events led to...

Oct 25, 2011 04:50 PM

First Arkansas News

News, musings, and pre-television radio serials

By Tyler Jones

BENTON, ARKANSAS — "Benton resident. Rogue journalist. Recovering attorney." Scary words if you're a city official caught using public property for campaigning purposes. Just two weeks after launching First Arkansas News, founder Ethan C. Nobles, whose 'about' statement above is brief but bold, broke such a story after filing a Freedom of Information Act request for the e-mail records of Arkansas...

Jan 3, 2011 01:35 PM

Gawker

Pioneers of Internet snark branch out toward general interest news

By Sean Gandert

NEW YORK, NEW YORK— The rise of Gawker has been well-documented. Founded by Nick Denton in 2003 as "the source for daily Manhattan media news and gossip," the site's urbane tone of bemusement in line with the old Spy, coupled with the Internet's ability to feature near-instant commentary on events, turned the site into a quick, widely imitated success. But the current version of...

Nov 30, 2011 03:19 PM

GazeboNews

News and "stuff" for two affluent Chicago suburbs

By Justin Peters

LAKE BLUFF, ILLINOIS — When, in 2006, Adrienne Fawcett moved to Lake Bluff, Illinois, a leafy suburb thirty-five miles north of downtown Chicago, the local news scene was in repose. "I felt the people I was talking to in the community had a better sense of what was going on than the media covering the community," she remembers. At the time, the town of 5,722...

Jan 3, 2011 04:31 PM

GigaOM

The site offers predictive technology coverage, and has itself been a leader in earning web revenue

By Sean Gandert

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — What started out as a personal blog that combined former Forbes and Business 2.0 reporter Om Malik's mutual interests in technology and opinionated blogging has become a full-fledged business. Despite running an editorial staff of twelve and working as a "jack of all trades" for the site's business and technology sides, Malik still personally writes on GigaOm nearly every day....

Jan 5, 2011 01:35 PM

GlobalPost

A new news agency helping to fill the gaps in foreign reporting

By Dohini Patel

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS — GlobalPost has breathed life back into the foreign news agency business. Philip Balboni and Charles Sennott, two ambitious and entrepreneurial international news journalists, founded the for-profit site in 2009. They say the site sets out to have a distinctive American voice and American style of storytelling while reporting on news from every corner of the world. GlobalPost has complete editorial...

Jul 27, 2011 02:48 PM

Gotham Gazette

Detailed reporting on New York City governance

By Connor Boals

NEW YORK, NEW YORK — It's no secret that many Americans are shamefully uninformed about their elected representatives, particularly at the local level. The blame for this can often go as much to local press as to citizens themselves, but thanks to Gotham Gazette, an online source for what's happening in the world of NYC government, citizens of the nation's largest metropolis will...

Feb 16, 2012 01:09 PM

Grand Prairie Reporter

News by a former USPS employee turned reporter in the Dallas-Fort Worth area

By David Riedel

grand.prairie.reporter.png GRAND PRAIRIE, TEXAS — "I'm a reporter. I am not a journalist," says Grand Prairie Reporter founder Bob Fitch. "I don't want to degrade the craft of journalism. I can't write and paint a picture with words." Fitch's writing style is utilitarian and not nearly as bad as he claims, but he does try to keep stories on the Reporter at 250 words...

Jan 4, 2011 05:17 PM

Grist

Irreverent online environmental magazine offers in-depth reporting with "secret sauce"

By Brett Norman

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON — Grist is an irreverent online environmental magazine that aggressively courts young readers, ad dollars, and philanthropic backers. Launched in 1999, the publication could be considered an octogenarian in web years, but maintains the tenor of a cheerful young rebel. To celebrate the nonprofit's tenth anniversary, Grist founder and CEO Chip Giller announced a "Screw Earth Day!" campaign, saying "too many people...

Jan 12, 2012 10:19 AM

GrossePointeToday.com

Nonprofit hyperlocal news in suburban Detroit

By Maura R. O'Connor

grossepointetoday.com.png GROSSE POINTE, MICHIGAN — When the 2010 Census was released, it revealed some interesting changes in the metro Detroit community of Grosse Pointe. Whereas in 2000 the non-white population of the area was marginal, in 2010 the percentage of minorities had risen steeply. The number of African Americans living in Grosse Pointe area, for instance, had increased by 300 percent. The online news site <a...

Mar 5, 2012 11:56 AM

Homicide Watch

Reinventing the homicide beat for the digital age

By Maura R. O'Connor

homicide.watch.png WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA — Mico Briscoe. Black. Male. 18. Shot on November 26, 2011. Marcellus J. Darnaby, aka "Boom." Black. Male. 32. Shot on June 15, 2011. Lucki Nancy Pannell. Black. Female. 18. Shot on February 19, 2011. These are just a few of the 152 homicides currently listed on HomicideWatchDC.org. In the coming...

Feb 23, 2011 06:32 PM

Honolulu Civil Beat

A journalistic "civic square"

By Alex Fekula

HONOLULU, HAWAII — Honolulu Civil Beat is the brainchild of eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and former eBay exec Randy Ching, both of whom attended high school in the Aloha State. The pair shared a common goal, in Omidyar's words, of "empowering citizens and encouraging greater civic participation through media." In keeping with this mission, they envisioned a site that considered audience participation to...

Jan 4, 2011 01:59 PM

I-News

Colorado investigative journalism with statewide import and local impact

By Colin Fleming

DENVER, COLORADO — On December 16, 2010, Laura Frank, the executive director of I-News (formerly known as the Rocky Mountain Investigative News Network), delivered her commencement speech for the University of Colorado's soon-to-be-defunct journalism school. Frank was optimistic about the future of the industry: "I now recognize you actually are embarking on this adventure at one of the most exciting times - perhaps...

Jan 3, 2011 04:54 PM

indieWIRE

Independent film news for fans, filmmakers, and insiders

By Sean Gandert

NEW YORK, NEW YORK — IndieWIRE is a daily news site and online resource that covers all aspects of specialty and independent film. Founded in 1996, the site is known for its dogged coverage of film festivals around the world and its efforts to support the independent filmmaking community itself. The site's multifaceted approach to film coverage has earned it a following among fans...

Mar 11, 2011 11:11 AM

Inner City Press

A one-man show reporting on the United Nations

By Armin Rosen

Inner.City.Press.png NEW YORK, NEW YORK — Every weekday at noon, a spokesperson for the United Nations briefs the media in the auditorium at the Dag Hammarskjold library, just adjacent to the world body's towering Secretariat building in New York. And every weekday, Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press is there, asking about topics that no other member of the press corps will touch. His...

Jul 26, 2011 08:20 AM

Innovation Trail

Public radio takes to the web to cover upstate New York's transitioning economy

By Maura R. O'Connor

innovation.trail.png ROCHESTER, NEW YORK — Fifty years ago the economy of upstate New York was rooted in industry and manufacturing, but in recent decades these sectors have dramatically declined. In the 1980s alone, hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs were lost, according to the Albany Times Union. "Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse were heavy industrial areas," says journalist Juan Vazquez. "A lot of the economy was based on...

Jan 5, 2011 04:26 PM

InvestigateWest

Investigative journalism for the Pacific Northwest

By Colin Fleming

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON — Seattle's InvestigateWest may have a small budget and a tiny newsroom--but the organization's impact consistently belies its size. Founded in 2009, the small investigative nonprofit led by former Seattle Post-Intelligencer staffer Rita Hibbard has emerged as a major player in regional journalism, reporting on everything from chronic homelessness to the widespread poisoning of children by rat poison....

Jul 13, 2011 12:54 PM

LymeLine

Hyperlocal news for two small Connecticut towns

By Mike Madden

OLD LYME, CONNECTICUT — Founded in 2003 by veteran publisher Jack Turner and now headed by news editor Olwen Logan, LymeLine had the humble beginnings one might expect for a site that covers two towns (Lyme and Old Lyme) with a combined population of fewer than 10,000. When Turner first decided to venture into the world of online journalism, paperless news had yet to...

Jan 4, 2011 01:20 PM

Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting

Filling the reporting gap in Maine's state capital

By Colin Fleming

HALLOWELL, MAINE — As the number of reporters covering Maine state government dropped from twenty in 1989 to fewer than ten today, a wife-and-husband duo, two old-school reporters, stepped up. In 2010, Naomi Schalit, a former reporter and producer at Maine Public Radio, and John Christie, former president and publisher of Central Maine Newspapers, launched the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, a watchdog...

May 26, 2011 04:06 PM

Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting

A one-man investigative unit in the heartland

By Joel Meares

PRAIRIE VILLAGE, KANSAS — If you head to the "leadership" page of the website for the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting you will see profiles of an impressively large Board of Directors. There are professors and consultants and attorneys, all smiling into camera alongside slabs of striking qualifications. Under the heading "staff," though, you will find just one name: Mike Sherry. Sherry,...

Feb 2, 2012 02:47 PM

Milford Live

Hyperlocal news for a small town in Delaware

By David Riedel

milford.live.png MILFORD, DELAWARE — Dave Burris and Bryan Shupe grew up in Milford, Del., and later crossed paths while working on Republican campaigns. Burris had experience running a digital lifestyle magazine called Coastal Sussex Weekly and wanted to start a hyperlocal news site for Milford. He thought Shupe, who had become disillusioned by the negativity in politics and was ready to move on, would...

Jan 5, 2011 04:53 PM

MinnPost

The Twin Cities startup is seeking loyal readers for hard news

By Chris Benz

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA — Harvard's Nieman Journalism Lab calls MinnPost founder Joel Kramer "one of the brightest stars in the news-startup firmament." The former editor and publisher of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Kramer started his nonprofit in 2007 with a rolodex of veteran journalists to whom he offered freelance work, and $1.2 million dollars in commitments from foundations and private donors. This was...

Oct 12, 2011 12:02 PM

My Edmonds News

A burgeoning news source and business in the Seattle suburbs

By Caitlin Kasunich

my.edmonds.news.png EDMONDS, WASHINGTON — Since graduating from Seattle University in 1979 with a journalism degree, Teresa Wippel's career has veered in and out of journalism, but she hopes that she's back in the fourth estate for good now. She started out working as a community newspaper reporter for a chain of Seattle-area weeklies and a small daily paper in Port Angeles, Wash., before becoming a staff...

Apr 3, 2012 02:28 PM

National Institute on Money in State Politics

Tracking political donations and their influence in all fifty states

By Maura R. O'Connor

national.institute.on.money.in.politics.png HELENA, MONTANA — Edwin Bender believes that building a database is like writing a really good story. "What fascinated me about being a journalist was getting down and taking evidence and saying 'this is what I see,'" says Bender. "When I first started building databases it was like reporting a story. Standardizing names and sorting them, finding out who worked for a bank when they...

Jul 5, 2011 02:37 PM

NEast Philly

Neighborhood news for working-class Philadelphia

By Alex Fekula

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA — While still an undergraduate journalism major at Temple University, Shannon McDonald launched the hyperlocal NEast Philly, an online only news source that provides daily coverage for the Northeast section of Philadelphia. In the site's own words, NEast Philly offers "daily news, analysis, multimedia, columns and commentary on everything that interests the proud, working-class neighborhoods of The NEast."

Sep 26, 2011 11:27 AM

New America Media

A news wire (and much more) for America's ethnic press

By Lauren Kirchner

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — In 1969, historian Franz Schurmann and journalist Orville Schell founded Pacific News Service to provide an alternative news source about U.S. military actions abroad. Four decades later, a descendant of that project continues the mission of supplementing the American mainstream press with news it wouldn't get otherwise--but this initiative seeks to inform by crossing linguistic, rather than geographic, borders. <!-- OPEN...

Jan 4, 2011 01:33 PM

New England Center for Investigative Reporting

Hard-hitting investigations in and around the Boston area

By Colin Fleming

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS — In less than two years and with an annual budget of less than $500,000, the New England Center for Investigative Reporting has taken on the state division of banks and the Salvation Army. They've brought down a high-level public official, and had their work appear in publications across the state and in every medium imaginable. And they've...

Recently Updated: Jun 28, 2011 01:18 PM

New Haven Independent

Connecticut-based leader in nonprofit community news

By Arvin Temkar

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT — The nonprofit New Haven Independent, which has been delivering serious-minded local news to residents of New Haven, Conn., and the surrounding area since 2005, takes a lot of pride in how it interacts with the community. In fact, the site's editor maintains that its readers are as integral to the editorial process as its reporters. "Our readers do our typos,"...

Oct 5, 2011 08:03 PM

NewsOne

Original and aggregated national news for black America

By Maura R. O'Connor

NEW YORK, NEW YORK— In July 2011, New York City's beaches and rivers were closed to recreational use for five days, after a fire at a major sewage treatment plant led to millions of gallons of untreated sewage being dumped into the Hudson and Harlem rivers. Most New York news outlets focused on the immediate fallout from the leak at the North River Wastewater Treatment...

Jan 27, 2012 11:55 AM

NOWCastSA

Multimedia community news for San Antonio, Texas

By Maura R. O'Connor

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS — This spring, San Antonio residents will vote on a five-year, $596 million bond package intended to upgrade the city's infrastructure. The package includes 140 projects across the city, such as improvements to parks, sidewalks, and drainage facilities. Until they go to the polls on May 12, citizens who want to learn details about these projects can visit NOWCastSA.com, an...

Jan 5, 2011 06:00 PM

Oakland Local

Susan Mernit & co. cover their corner of the Bay

By David Downs

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA — Born from the community outrage that followed a local police-on-civilian killing caught on cell phone and spread across the Internet, one-year-old Oakland Local hopes to grow its professional reporting in 2011, while keeping its street-level perspective on the sometimes dangerous California port city it covers. Founder Susan Mernit edits and publishes the Local with an editorial staff of eight--none of whom...

Oct 24, 2011 04:44 PM

Ocean Beach Bulletin

Hyperlocal news for San Francisco's western edge

By Alex Fekula

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — San Francisco is home to one of the largest urban beaches in the country, Ocean Beach. The surrounding neighborhoods, the Sunset and the Richmond District, resemble suburban sprawl more than a city, and are comprised mostly of families, surfers, and those seeking a quieter, less urban-intensive lifestyle. The Ocean Beach Bulletin provides hyperlocal coverage for this part of town,...

Mar 24, 2011 12:49 PM

Oklahoma Watch

An investigative nonprofit for the Sooner State

By Brendan Buhler

Oklahoma.Watch.png NORMAN, OKLAHOMA — Oklahoma Watch is a nonprofit investigative reporting website launched in December 2010 under editor Tom Lindley, a veteran of the state's two major daily papers, the Oklahoman and the Tulsa World--credentials that Lindley says got him the job, as the two papers share resources with Oklahoma Watch and the editors of both papers sit on its executive board. Lindley says Oklahoma...

May 20, 2011 01:35 PM

OpenSecrets.org

Exhaustive reporting on money in politics

By Daniel Luzer

WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA — In 1983, Senators Frank Church (D-Idaho) and Hugh Scott (R-Pa.) founded the Center for Responsive Politics in order to "track money in politics and its effect on elections and public policy." This government watchdog eventually gave birth to OpenSecrets.org, a searchable database of campaign contributions and a center for investigative journalism about money in politics. <!-- OPEN CLOSE top...

Mar 24, 2011 11:45 AM

Ozarks Unbound

One man (and three contributors) in the wide world of northwest Arkansas

By Sam Eifling

Ozarks.Unbound.png FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS — The challenges have been twofold for Christopher Spencer, the veteran reporter who founded Ozarks Unbound after he was laid off from his gig at the Morning News of Northwest Arkansas. The first, simply, is revenue. The second is establishing a journalistic brand when there's only one of him (with three contributors) cranking out news about northwest Arkansas, a metro region of...

Jun 29, 2011 12:03 PM

PatersonPress.com

Hard news meets hyperlocal in Paterson, N.J.

By Arvin Temkar

PATERSON, NEW JERSEY — PatersonPress.com, a hyperlocal news site for Paterson, N.J., brings an old-school mentality to a new era of journalism. Editor Joe Malinconico said that traditional, shoe leather reporting is what makes Paterson Press shine. That's also what won the site two New Jersey Society of Professional Journalists awards only eight months after it launched. Paterson Press launched in October 2010...

Mar 25, 2011 03:05 AM

Philadelphia Neighborhoods

Award-winning student journalism from Temple University

By Daniel Denvir

Philadelphia.Neighborhood.png PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA — Philadelphia Neighborhoods is a news website reporting on the city's poor and working class neighborhoods, produced by undergraduate journalism students at Temple University. The site is part of Temple journalism's Multimedia Urban Reporting Lab, which emphasizes two things deemed important for future journalists: hyper-local reporting and the ability to tell stories via text, photos, and video. <ul...

Aug 16, 2011 11:54 AM

Planet Princeton

One reporter goes from freelance to Facebook to hyperlocal

By Leah Binkovitz

PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY — When friends and readers complained to Princeton-based reporter Krystal Knapp that they couldn't find her stories on NJ.com, a combined web presence for papers owned by Advance Publications in New Jersey, she decided to start her own site serving the city she loves. Knapp was, and continues to be, a freelancer for The Times of Trenton, but she wanted...

Oct 31, 2011 11:46 AM

Plunderbund

Ohio state politics from a progressive point of view

By Alysia Santo

HAMILTON, OHIO — Like many political news sites, Plunderbund was born out of frustration. Ohio-based writer Eric Vessels had been disengaged from politics for years, but when President Bush was reelected in 2004, his apathy transformed into anger. "I realized I hadn't been an active part of doing anything to make the country go in the direction I wanted it to," says Vessels....

Jan 21, 2011 03:25 PM

Portland Afoot

Portland-based transportation advocacy

By Alex Fekula

portland.afoot.png PORTLAND, OREGON — In a culture where the car is often the primary mode of transportation, the web/print hybrid Portland Afoot has set out to inform Portland citizens about the wide world of transportation alternatives. After leaving his job as a reporter for The Columbian in Vancouver, Wash., founder Michael Andersen felt that he could attract a devoted audience for a new journalism venture...

Mar 24, 2011 03:43 PM

Prince of Petworth

Purveyor of D.C. local news and oddities

By Alex Fekula

WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA — For the Prince of Petworth, a good stroll is the preferred way to travel. In his pre-blogging days, Dan Silverman would take long walks through the streets of Washington, D.C. and observe intriguing urban phenomena: a compelling bit of graffiti, a notable piece of architecture, a curious new business. Soon, however, merely observing such spectacles proved to be insufficient; so...

Jul 29, 2011 01:42 AM

PubliCola

Extensive political coverage for Seattle and Washington state

By Alex Fekula

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON — [UPDATE: After briefly ceasing operations in May 2012 due to "limited and inconsistent" ad revenue, Publicola was purchased in mid-June 2012 by SagaCity Media, owner of the Seattle Metropolitan magazine and other properties, for an undisclosed sum. The new web publication is called PubliCola at SeattleMet. Popular features like "Morning Fizz," "Afternoon Jolt," and and "ThinkTank" continue to be published,...

May 20, 2011 12:13 PM

Remapping Debate

An NYC-based site that seeks to throw a wrench in conventional wisdom on public policy

By Isaac Olson

NEW YORK, NEW YORK — Armed with flexible hypotheses rather than fill-in-the-blank assumptions, the public policy focused e-journal Remapping Debate aims to cut through the all-too-common political smokescreen to expose the true motivations behind--and the aftereffects of--top-level decision making, political or otherwise. Be it digging into the true cost of social security or taking a well-rounded look at proposed healthcare reform, Remapping Debate, launched...

Mar 25, 2011 02:41 PM

Rio Grande Guardian

An online-only news source for South Texas

By Justin Yang

rio.grande.guardian.png MCALLEN, TEXAS — In July of 2005, Steve Taylor and his partner Melinda Barerra sold their Isuzu Rodeo for seed money and launched the first online-only news site in the Texas border region. The site, called the Rio Grande Guardian, bills itself as "the internet newspaper of south Texas," and covers the Rio Grande Valley, which consists of the four counties that make up...

Jul 28, 2011 03:16 PM

Rust Wire

Reporting on urban and social issues in the Rust Belt

By Anthony Badami

CLEVELAND, OHIO — Rust Wire, a collaborative media project which bills itself as "a voice for change in the Industrial Midwest," was founded in 2009 by Angie Schmitt and Kate Giammarise in order to challenge the notion that some economically enfeebled towns in the Midwestern United States "weren't worth saving." The site, which features original reporting and photography, first-person essays, and opinion...

Mar 25, 2011 02:46 PM

RVANews

Richmond's online-only news source

By Alex Fekula

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA — In 2007, Ross Catrow and Scott Pharr set out to create an online hub where Richmond residents could have access to the increasing number of blogs and hyperlocal sites based in and around the small city. The two had been college roommates who found web-related jobs after school: Catrow worked for the state of Virginia, Pharr for a gold and jewelery wholesaler. The...

Jan 3, 2011 05:34 PM

Salon

The general interest online magazine has learned to get specific

By Sean Gandert

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — Just because Salon is the oldest general interest publication on the Internet doesn't mean that it's been standing still. Founded in 1995 as a web journalism alternative, producing articles as intelligent and well-written as its peers in print, the website's path has been bumpy, but it is still recognizably the same outlet that first appeared over fifteen years ago. The...

Dec 1, 2011 04:52 PM

SanFranPreps.com

Exhaustive high school sports reporting for San Francisco

By Erik Shilling

sanfranpreps.com.png SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — Like more than a few newspapermen before him, Jeremy Balan was less than impressed with the play many of the stories from his beat--high school sports--were getting in the newspaper. When Balan moved to San Francisco in 2009, he was even more disappointed, but this time with everyone else. After years of cutbacks, the San Francisco Chronicle had reduced its high...

Dec 31, 2010 12:24 AM

Slate

The Internet's old guard general interest publication has never slowed down

By Sean Gandert

NEW YORK, NEW YORK — "Slate's overall mission is to create really intelligent, witty, durable web journalism; [that mission] has been more or less the same since 1996," says David Plotz, the site's editor. Slate is perhaps best known as one of the first publications to prove that a high-quality editorial product could exist and thrive online, but it didn't earn that reputation...

Apr 20, 2011 02:57 PM

Solutions

Colorado's source for health policy reporting and discussion

By Dohini Patel

DENVER, COLORADO — Solutions, launched on December 1st, 2010, is an independent, nonprofit news platform on health policy issues in Colorado and the Rocky Mountain West. Solutions draws its inspiration from the format and niche content of another local news site, Education News Colorado. According to Solutions editor Diane Carman, the site "avoids the political back and forth that traditional media covers...

Oct 26, 2011 03:33 PM

SomervilleToday.com

Hyperlocal news for a small town in New Jersey

By Caitlin Kasunich

SOMERVILLE, NEW JERSEY — When he relocated to New Jersey in 1987, publisher and editor Loren Fisher already had an extensive journalistic résumé. Starting in 1978, he worked at a myriad of newspapers around the country, including the Star-Press and Shelbyville News in Muncie and Shelbyville, Indiana, respectively, as well as at the Marietta Times in Marietta, Ohio. When he moved to New Jersey, he...

Feb 15, 2012 11:43 AM

South King Media

A network of six hyperlocals in Washington State

By Maura R. O'Connor

south.king.media.png BURIEN, WASHINGTON — In 2007, Scott Schaefer, an Emmy Award-winning comedy writer who worked on shows like Bill Nye the Science Guy and The Arsenio Hall Show, decided to create some comedy websites from his home in King County, Washington. He quickly discovered that getting advertising or creating revenue for comedy sites was extraordinarily difficult. "You're competing at a national level," says Schaefer. "Nothing was...

May 31, 2011 11:48 AM

Street Fight

A news source for the burgeoning hyperlocal industry

By Arvin Temkar

BOULDER, COLORADO — A site named "Street Fight" has to deliver action, and the brand new site dedicated to covering the hyperlocal industry expects to do just that-- though it's probably not the kind of action a teenager who stumbles onto the site after a Google search would expect. Hyperlocal is becoming big business. While the term usually refers to local news, Street Fight...

Jan 5, 2011 08:10 PM

Talking Points Memo

The pioneer of web-based political journalism

By Lauren Kirchner

NEW YORK, NEW YORK — What began as Josh Marshall's personal blog during the Florida vote recount of November 2000 has since expanded into a profitable multimedia brand of fast-paced political news coverage. The TalkingPointsMemo.com homepage now acts as a conduit to several different frequently-updated news sites and blogs, a poll tracker, and a video channel....

Dec 30, 2010 02:23 PM

TechCrunch

The tech startup news news startup

By Sean Gandert

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — From the very beginning, TechCrunch was part and parcel with Web 2.0. Founded by Michael Arrington in 2005, the site began as a personal technology blog but rapidly transitioned into a full-scale publication, drawing in millions of page views a month by the end of 2007. Unlike most of his peers, Arrington didn't come from a journalistic background, instead studying...

May 10, 2011 04:29 PM

The Batavian

Small town news and innovation in local online advertising

By Justin Yang

BATAVIA, NEW YORK — The Batavian began as an experimental project by GateHouse Media, a newspaper publisher with properties in twenty states. The company wanted to launch a community-oriented news website, and chose Batavia, N.Y. because of its proximity to the company's Fairport, N.Y. headquarters; an added bonus was that The Daily News, the local paper for Batavia and Genesee County, lacked...

Oct 27, 2011 02:56 PM

The Bay Citizen

Local civic journalism in the national spotlight

By Lauren Kirchner

bay.citizen.png SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — In early 2009, San Francisco philanthropist Warren Hellman grew concerned about the cutbacks in local newsrooms and what he saw as a decline in professional, original reporting in the area. He convened an advisory group to explore the possibility of creating a new journalism outlet for the Bay Area. At the time, there were rumors that Hearst was considering closing The...

Mar 31, 2011 11:40 AM

The Bold Italic

Gannett's bold move in consumer-oriented journalism

By Kathy Gilsinan

The.Bold.Italic.png SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — The Bold Italic is an experiment. Slickly designed but still in "beta," the Gannett-owned San Francisco website has an image-heavy layout, an alt-weekly feel, and a focus on helping its readers find new places to spend their free time. "It's not meant to replace anything" in the San Francisco print media, says Michael Maness, who, as Gannett's vice president of...

May 25, 2011 01:04 PM

The Connecticut Mirror

Former Courant staffers step up to fill the state's hard news gap

By David Downs

The.CT.Mirror.png HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT — A tiny, talented, maybe-a-bit-too-earnest team of ex-Hartford Courant staffers is trying to plug the glaring gaps in Connecticut's political coverage at CT Mirror, a sober-minded news startup that chases the sorts of in-depth, investigative political stories that the state's depleted legacy news organizations no longer have the resources to pursue. Working from the state capitol since January 2010, the nonprofit, non-partisan,...

Mar 24, 2011 04:14 PM

The Dagger

Sharp local reporting for Harford County, Md.

By Alex Fekula

The.Dagger.png BEL AIR, MARYLAND — Harford County, Maryland-based journalist Brian Goodman wanted to start a band. He had a name picked out: The Dagger. After plans for the band fizzled, Goodman decided to take the name and start a local news blog instead. The journalistic ensemble known as The Dagger officially debuted in April of 2007, and has since evolved into a popular alternative news resource...

Jan 17, 2011 11:46 AM

The Daily Caller

Tucker Carlson and co.'s political reporting startup

By Michael Meyer

WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA — "My politics are relatively well known," conservative media personality Tucker Carlson told CJR in February of 2010, not long after he and former Dick Cheney aide Neil Patel launched political news site The Daily Caller. "But this site is not a pure distillation of my politics. My views are not interesting enough to sustain the company we're...

Dec 14, 2011 02:12 PM

The Heavy Table

Food journalism and criticism for the upper Midwest

By Leah Binkovitz

the.heavy.table.png MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA — Food journalism is reaching a zenith of popularity and cool. Scores of people tune in to watch Anthony Bourdain search the world for something to eat. The New York Times's food critic leaves his post and readers across the country speculate over replacements. But the tide of foodie attention has also brought us endless comment chains on Yelp!, countless half-hearted blogs, and...

Mar 24, 2011 12:07 PM

The Iowa Republican

Reporting-heavy partisan news

By Joel Meares

The.Iowa.Republican.png DES MOINES, IOWA — While serving as political director of the Republican Party of Iowa in 2007, Craig Robinson had one of those out-there, against-the-grain ideas that rarely survive the journey from imagination to reality. Republicans, he recalls, were having big problems in terms of media coverage. "It wasn't that we didn't have people in our state doing good stuff, it...

Mar 24, 2011 12:20 PM

The Lens

Investigative reporting on The Big Easy

By Brendan Buhler

The.Lens.png NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA — Launched in January 2010, The Lens is an eight-person nonprofit investigative news website partnered with weekly papers and a local television station in New Orleans. The site aims to fill the gaps that are no longer being covered by New Orleans's cash-strapped traditional news operations. Right now, The Lens's goal is to produce big, investigative stories every two weeks, and...

Oct 21, 2011 10:57 AM

The Manomet Current

Hyperlocal news for two Plymouth, Mass. neighborhoods

By Alex Fekula

manomet.current.png PLYMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS — In addition to being the landing point of the Mayflower, the birthplace of Thanksgiving, and the home of a notorious rock, Plymouth, Mass. also houses the seaside village of Manomet, a neighborhood within Plymouth proper. Online news source The Manomet Current hopes to provide hyperlocal news for both Manomet and neighboring Pinehills. The site's stated goal is to "tell...

Oct 31, 2011 02:50 PM

The Natomas Buzz

Hyperlocal news for a Sacramento, Calif. community

By Maura R. O'Connor

the.natomas.buzz.png SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA — In June of 2008, journalist Brandy Tuzon Boyd was scrolling through daily crime reports in Natomas, a community in northwest Sacramento, when she noticed something alarming--a spate of home invasions in which residents were being robbed in their garages. Tuzon Boyd reported the trend on her then-fledgling website The Natomas Buzz. "Is anyone else noticing this happening almost every other...

Mar 12, 2012 01:58 PM

The New York World

Accountability journalism from recent Columbia J-School alums

By Tom Marcinko

the.new.york.world.png NEW YORK, NEW YORK — Last October 18, the day The New York World went live with a mission to expand journalism education and hold local and state governments accountable, editor Alyssa Katz posted a story by World reporter Sasha Chavkin about a private bus line in Brooklyn that ran a city bus route under a franchise agreement. Despite being open...

May 19, 2011 04:01 PM

The News Outlet

College students report local news for northeastern Ohio

By Connor Boals

YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO — Faced with an increase in journalism majors and the general decay of legacy media coverage in the Mahoning Valley region of northern Ohio, Youngstown State University journalism professors Alyssa Lenhoff and Tim Francisco created The News Outlet, a collaborative effort between the university and several local media outlets. The founders hoped the site's journalism would not only fill a hole in local...

Mar 2, 2012 10:00 AM

The Sanatoga Post

A one-man news network in Pennsylvania

By Erik Shilling

the.sanatoga.post.png SANATOGA, PENNSYLVANIA — When Joseph Zlomek decided to go back into the news business in August 2008 and launch The Sanatoga Post, he drew inspiration from nostalgia. Zlomek had fond, decades-old memories of the Eagle Bulletin, a small weekly based in Fayetteville, N.Y., a suburb of Syracuse, near where he was raised. The paper, Zlomek says, was regularly the hottest read among townsfolk....

Jan 4, 2011 05:48 PM

The Texas Tribune

Political reporting and investigations for the Lone Star State

By Justin Yang

texas.tribune.png AUSTIN, TEXAS — The Texas Tribune, which writer Jake Batsell profiled for CJR in July 2010, focuses on state politics, government, and investigative reporting, and prides itself on finding innovative ways of presenting the news to an increasingly expanding audience. The nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization has helped redefine online journalism and extended its goals of civic engagement far beyond the Internet. ...

May 6, 2011 11:27 AM

ThePortlander

Portland-centric news with a casual flair

By Alex Fekula

PORTLAND, OREGON — When the news broke that the former model and millionaire's widow Anna Nicole Smith had died, the story seemed to capture the interest of virtually every local TV station, major news network, and newspaper. But all Jeff Martens of Portland, Ore. wanted to know was the score of the previous night's high school basketball game. Frustrated by Smith's death dominating the seeming entirety...

Jul 25, 2011 04:00 PM

Universal Hub

A wicked smart Boston hyperlocal

By Connor Boals

universal.hub.png BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS — What started as a simple online directory of businesses, restaurants, and other establishments serving Boston has grown into a full-blown hub of Beantown information. After a layoff prompted him to take his side project full-time, Adam Gaffin set about building Universal Hub into a hyperlocal news hub with an original Boston twist. If you want the day's biggest stories, stick...

Jan 5, 2012 11:22 AM

Urban Milwaukee

Reporting and advocacy on urban issues in the Cream City

By Paige Rentz

urban.milwaukee.png MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN — After merging two local blogs to launch a news site several years ago, web developers Jeramey Jannene and Dave Reid have a strong presence in downtown Milwaukee, serving up local urban news on their combined effort, Urban Milwaukee. Jannene and Reid do not shy away from writing with a very defined perspective. "We're not simply reporting; there's a level of...

Jul 11, 2011 01:18 PM

Watchdog New England

A catalyst for investigative reporting in Boston and beyond

By Isaac Olson

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS — Watchdog New England, the website of the nonprofit Initiative for Investigative Reporting at Northeastern University, aims to revive and strengthen investigative reporting throughout New England's six states--not as a news outlet in its own right, but as an ally to the region's more than eighty daily newspapers and countless weeklies. For now, the site primarily exists as a compendium of links to...

Jun 14, 2011 09:53 AM

Watershed Post

News and environmental reporting for the Catskills

By Brett Norman

DELHI, NEW YORK — The Watershed Post, an online news source for five counties in upstate New York, made a splash last fall with its real-time coverage of widespread flooding that swept one woman to her death in the Neversink River. Its editors call this back country in the Catskill Mountains a "news desert," mostly bereft of local media coverage,...

Oct 31, 2011 10:00 AM

West Orlando News Online

Left-of-center community news for Orlando, Fla.

By Paige Rentz

west.orlando.news.online.png ORLANDO, FLORIDA — For Keith Longmore, it's a point of pride that the Tea Party has targeted West Orlando News Online, the left-of-center local news site he publishes in Orange County, Florida, for a service it provides to locals hit hard by the foreclosure crisis. According to Longmore, posting information and links to help readers apply for government assistance programs is all in...

Jan 4, 2011 03:26 PM

Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

Investigative reporting for the Badger State

By Colin Fleming

MADISON, WISCONSIN — In just under two years, the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism has broken over twenty-five major stories, ranging from the increased dependence on immigrant labor in the dairy industry to the stories behind the alarmingly high Native American suicide rates. The two-person team, led by executive director Andy Hall out of an office at the University of...

Jan 5, 2011 07:19 PM

WyoFile

Enterprise reporting for the Equality State

By Alex Fekula

CASPER, WY — [UPDATE: On September 5, 2012, the Knight Foundation announced that WyoFile was yet again a recipient of its Community Information Challenge Grant. The site received $62,000 from Knight and an equal amount from the Wyoming Community Foundation. It will hire one full-time reporter dedicated to the Wyoming Legislature and one part-time minority reporter, who will cover the Wind River Indian Reservation.]...

Nov 21, 2011 11:38 AM

Yadkin Valley Sports

High school sports news for eighteen schools in central North Carolina

By Erik Shilling

yadkin.valley.sports.png ELKIN, NORTH CAROLINA — After earning his undergraduate journalism degree from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 1993, Eric Lusk spent more than a decade patrolling small town sports beats at a number of newspapers across the state. In 2006, he got a job at the Elkin Tribune, which has a circulation of around 4,000. But just a year later the privately-owned paper was...

Jan 4, 2011 03:45 PM

Yale Environment 360

In-depth environmental news, commentary, and analysis

By Brett Norman

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT — Yale Environment 360 is an online magazine that publishes long-form environmental journalism by prominent reporters, academics, and policymakers. A nonprofit backed primarily by two heavyweight philanthropic foundations, e360, as it's known, isn't subject to the market pressures squeezing many outlets. That leaves its full-time staff of three to focus on producing in-depth news, commentary, and analysis--and, more recently, extended video...

Oct 31, 2011 02:26 PM

YubaNet

Online news stretching the Sierras

By Tyler Jones

NEVADA CITY, CALIFORNIA — "The legacy media don't see this area as a market," says Pascale Fusshoeller, editor and co-founder of YubaNet in Nevada City, California. When looking at a map of the Sierra Nevada, one can understand why. The Range of Light, as John Muir described it, stretches 400 sparsely populated miles along California's Central Valley, containing the...