Online News Websites Funding by Donations : CJR's Guide to Online News Startups

Jan 13, 2012 11:47 AM

Baltimore Brew

Hard news for Charm City

By Alex Fekula

baltimore.brew.png BALTIMORE, MARYLAND — After seventeen years as a staff writer and reporter at The Washington Post, Fern Shen opted to take a buyout amid significant downsizing at the paper. But she wanted to stay in the news business, and felt that Baltimore, the city she called home throughout her time at the Post, needed "more journalistic boots on the ground," as well as "something more...

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....

Mar 24, 2011 12:11 PM

Boise Guardian

Pugnacious reporting on Boise's institutions

By Chris Benz

Boise.Guardian.png BOISE, IDAHO — The Boise Guardian, a one-man muckraking blog in Boise, Idaho, has developed an outsized influence and a regular following, thanks to the energy of its proprietor/ reporter, Dave Frazier. No friend of city hall, Frazier has an Idaho court decision named after him. In 2005, he sued the city of Boise for taking out a loan on a new police station...

Mar 20, 2012 01:30 PM

Borderzine.com

Bilingual reporting by Latino college journalists

By Tom Marcinko

borderzine.com.png EL PASO, TEXAS — Borderzine.com director Zita Arocha founded the site at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) with two goals. "One is to tell the unreported stories of the [U.S.-Mexico] border region, which mainstream media doesn't do very well," says Arocha, a senior lecturer in journalism at UTEP. The second is to create "a pipeline" into the journalism profession...

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...

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...

Dec 30, 2010 02:09 PM

California Watch

A watchdog for the Golden State

By Colin Fleming

BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA — In less than two years, California Watch has become a force in American journalism, distributing its content to over eighty different publications and operating with the biggest investigative team in the state. Launched in 2009 as a facet of the Center for Investigative Reporting, California Watch dedicates itself to "high-impact reporting" on health, education, ecology, politics, and public safety....

Apr 23, 2012 12:42 AM

CapitolHillSeattle.com

Hyperlocal news for the city's core of cool

By Patricia Sauthoff

CapitolHillSeatlle.com.png SEATTLE, WASHINGTON — Densely populated and filled with restaurants, nightspots, and shops, Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood is one of the city's hubs of cool. Even those who don't live in the area keep tabs on the neighborhood's comings and goings to see what hot spot will arrive next. Not a bad home for a news website. Enter CapitolHillSeattle.com, a hyperlocal community news...

Jan 5, 2011 06:54 PM

Center For Investigative Reporting

Old-school investigative nonprofit takes to the web

By Colin Fleming

BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA — In the world of American investigative nonprofits, the Center for Investigative Reporting is the oldest and one of the best recognized. Founded in 1977 by a small group of investigative reporters, CIR has grown considerably since, amassing numerous awards. It now employs a full-time staff of twenty and works with an annual budget of over $4 million. CIR has broken stories...

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...

Nov 14, 2011 12:34 PM

ChicagoTalks.org

Student-reported, university-based community news

By Ian Fullerton

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS — Shortly after launching what is now ChicagoTalks.org in 2006, Barbara Iverson realized that the project's original vision of enlisting citizen journalists to cover neighborhood beats just wasn't materializing. Originally pitched as a "meta-placelog" that would cover news in all fifty of the city's wards, the site received its initial funding from the school and through a grant from the start-up...

Jan 28, 2012 01:39 PM

Colorado Public News

Health care coverage for Centennial State newspapers and television stations

By Alex Fekula

colorado.public.news.png DENVER, COLORADO — With layoffs at the Denver Post and the closing of the Rocky Mountain News in 2009, few places have lost as much reporting talent in recent years as the Mile High City. Ann Imse, a former reporter for the Rocky who had previously worked as a correspondent for the Associated Press during the collapse of the Soviet Union, saw the writing on...

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...

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 12, 2011 03:45 PM

CTNewsJunkie

Giving the good stuff to Connecticut's political insiders

By Alex Fekula

CT.News.Junky.png WINDSOR, CONNECTICUT — Like many married couples, Christine Stuart and Doug Hardy share a weekly ritual. Unlike most married couples, theirs involves obsessing over state politics. Stuart and Hardy spend their Thursday nights preparing the "Friday Night Fix." The "Fix" is a weekly e-mail roundup of Connecticut political news, covering everything from the state's most recent budget battle to the fate of a particular piece of...

Sep 27, 2011 04:52 PM

Dallas South News

Making the move from blog to nonprofit news site

By Timothy Bella

dallas.south.news.png DALLAS, TEXAS — Shawn Williams was in pharmaceutical sales for nine years before starting his personal blog in 2006. The blog was about South Dallas, an area of more than 500,000 people. He says he first started the blog to try to combat negative images of the African American community that he saw in the mainstream media. When he was let go from his job...

Mar 24, 2011 03:22 PM

Delaware First Media News

Nonprofit news in text, audio, and video

By Georgia Schoonmaker

Delaware.First.Media.png NEWARK, DELAWARE — Delaware First Media News, an independent news site specializing in news and commentary about goings-on in the Diamond State, grew from seeds planted in the nonprofit sector. As explained by Micheline Boudreau, DFM's president and a former news director of a public television station in Delaware, all of the journalists who came together to create the website began in nonprofit journalism--a...

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...

Dec 8, 2010 03:40 PM

FactCheck.org

A "consumer advocate" for voters

By Justin Yang

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA — In a world of 140-character tweets and political attack ads posted on YouTube, information has become easier to access and easier to release. It's also become more difficult to discern between what information is true and what is false. FactCheck.org rose to the challenge of making those calls in political discourse leading up to the 2004 election and has continued to...

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...

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...

Jun 20, 2011 04:22 PM

FITSNews

Impolitic South Carolina political news

By Joel Meares

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA — In May 2010, Will Folks, the onetime spokesman for South Carolina governor Mark Sanford, sparked a sex scandal as juicy as his former boss's trip to the Appalachian Trail (by way of Buenos Aires). That month, Folks claimed he had had an "inappropriate physical relationship" with State Representative Nikki Haley--then running in a competitive Republican primary for...

Feb 3, 2011 05:14 PM

Florida Center for Investigative Reporting

A pioneer bilingual investigative nonprofit

By Justin Yang

MIAMI, FLORIDA — When the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting (FCIR) received a $100,000 grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation in September of 2010, it marked the launch of Florida's first nonprofit bilingual online investigative reporting organization. Located at the International Media Center at Florida International University, FCIR is emerging as a leader in investigative news and an innovator...

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...

May 18, 2011 03:33 PM

GothamSchools

Original reporting on the largest school system in the country

By Arvin Temkar

NEW YORK, NEW YORK — As battles rage over education reform nationwide, one tiny New York news site reports on New York City's public school system--the nation's largest--with coverage that endeavors to be "fact-based, constructive, and non-ideological." GothamSchools reports on the nitty-gritty of the city's education system, from explaining how schools shut down to analyzing mayoral policies. <li...

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...

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...

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...

Mar 24, 2011 03:48 PM

Inside the Hall

The go-to site for Hoosier basketball fanatics

By Connor Boals

Inside.The.Hall.png BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA — What began as a couple buddies blogging about their passion for their alma mater has grown into a mecca for fans of Indiana University basketball. Inside the Hall is the perfect web resource for a region known for its devout basketball culture. Started by Alex Bozich, Ryan Corazza, and Eamonn Brennan in 2007 as a hobby, the site soon grew to...

Apr 5, 2011 01:06 PM

Intersections South Los Angeles

USC students report on their neighboring communities

By David Downs

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — When conservative Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly needs a sparring partner on immigration issues, his producers occasionally turn to a totally under-the-radar nonprofit news site, Intersections South Los Angeles. The two-year-old site, a hybrid of hyperlocal reporting and user-generated news, runs on grant and university funds and operates out of the University of Southern California. Editor-in-chief Willa Seidenberg, a journalism...

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....

Jan 4, 2011 02:10 PM

Investigative Newsource

Investigative journalism for San Diego and beyond

By Colin Fleming

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA — Investigative editor Lorie Hearn does it all. She runs the business, raises the funds, edits the stories, does the books, and dusts the office. She even brings the bagels and cream cheese. Hearn, a former editor for the San Diego Union-Tribune, now leads Investigate Newsource, formerly known as The Watchdog Institute, a three-person nonprofit investigative outlet run out of San...

May 18, 2011 12:08 PM

Jersey City Independent

Eye-opening alternative news for a bedroom community on the Hudson

By Sara Germano

JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY — Unfortunately, it's not difficult to imagine how a city of nearly a quarter-million residents could be wanting for local news coverage these days. When that city exists in the shadow of media-manic Manhattan, that fate becomes even more understandable. Such was the case for Jersey City, a bedroom community located along the Hudson riverfront bordering the Big Apple, until a couple...

Mar 11, 2011 03:51 PM

Lexington Commons

A voice for Lexington's nonprofit organizations

By Georgia Schoonmaker

Lexington.Commons.png LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY — The tagline on the Lexington Commons homepage defines the site as "The Voice of Lexington," which is quite appropriate, considering it is written entirely by volunteer citizens of the city and its surrounding suburbs. Because of this, all of the stories featured have a very personal feel. Much of the site's content deals with the local nonprofit sector--"Celebrating Nonprofit Organizations and Volunteers!",...

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,...

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...

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...

Mar 24, 2011 04:04 PM

Nebraska Watchdog

Think tank-funded investigations for the Cornhusker State

By Brendan Buhler

Nebraska.Watchdog.png LAVISTA, NEBRASKA — Nebraska Watchdog, which launched in September 2009 with longtime newsman Joe Jordan as its sole employee, is a one-man shop focusing on investigative and statehouse news in the Cornhusker State. The site is part of a network of sites around the country that share the Watchdog name. Jordan spent twenty-nine years as a political and investigative reporter for KMTV CBS in Omaha,...

Mar 24, 2011 04:45 PM

Nevada News Bureau

Franklin Center-affiliated statehouse news for the Battle Born State

By Brendan Buhler

Nevada.News.Bureau.png HENDERSON, NEVADA — The Nevada News Bureau is a nonprofit organization launched in October 2009 to cover state politics and statehouse news and provide its work free of charge to other outlets in the Battle Born State. It was originally formed under the auspices of Citizen Outreach, a conservative nonprofit organization run by Chuck Muth, Nevada's leading conservative anti-tax activist. Elizabeth Crum, formerly Citizen...

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...

Mar 24, 2011 12:44 PM

New Hampshire Watchdog

Long-term investigations, libertarian style

By Joel Meares

new.hampshire.watchdog.png CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE — The draw of presidential politics is a strong one in New Hampshire, home of the first presidential primary. Every four years, the Granite State finds itself inundated with a new band of ambitious hand-shakers, and local political reporters find themselves dutifully shuffling from dinner halls to town halls to school halls, picking up scraps of policy platforms and hints of presidential aspirations...

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,"...

Dec 29, 2010 03:17 PM

NJ Spotlight

Trenton's statehouse startup

By Lauren Kirchner

TRENTON, NEW JERSEY — NJSpotlight.com, which CJR profiled in September 2010, is a policy-focused news site based in the Trenton, N.J. state house. Launched in early 2010 by two former Newark Star-Ledger reporters, John Mooney and Tom Johnson, the site focuses on issues relating to the state budget, environmental and energy legislation, education policy, and health care. "We are nonpartisan, independent, policy-centered and community-minded," says...

Dec 21, 2011 11:23 AM

NMPolitics.net

State politics from southern New Mexico

By Michael Meyer

nmpolitics.net.png LAS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO — In the spring of 2006, Heath Haussamen was working for the Las Cruces Sun-News in southern New Mexico, an ambitious young reporter covering courts, crime, and local politics amid one of the quieter media markets in the country. Las Cruces is part of New Mexico's second congressional district, which is home to just over 600,000 people living in...

Oct 24, 2011 11:42 AM

Noozhawk

Reporting (and financing) the news in Santa Barbara, Calif.

By Paige Rentz

SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA — 2006 was a tumultuous year for news in Santa Barbara. The daily Santa Barbara News-Press was experiencing a very public conflict between the publishers and editorial staff that resulted in waves of resignations and firings--a situation which ultimately led the National Labor Relations Board to find that management committed unfair labor practices after the staff voted to unionize. Four years later,...

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...

Sep 20, 2011 02:23 PM

Open Media Boston

Boston news and progressive commentary

By Evan MacDonald

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS — About five years ago, Jason Pramas identified what he calls a "metropolitan news vacuum" in Boston. He noticed that local news outlets were focusing more on beats like entertainment and sports than on local issues like labor strikes, social injustice, and community news. At the time, Pramas was a Ph.D candidate in public policy at the University of Massachusetts-Boston with an acute...

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...

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...

Jan 5, 2011 06:26 PM

ProPublica

The web's best-known muckraker

By Colin Fleming

NEW YORK, NEW YORK — In the world of investigative nonprofit news organizations, ProPublica is a giant. Its staff of nineteen reporters has broken big stories on everything from the lax supervision of British Petroleum to the dangers of drilling for natural gas. Founded in 2007 by Paul Steiger, former managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, and Stephen Engelberg, a former managing editor...

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...

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...

Jun 3, 2011 11:38 AM

Seattle PostGlobe (Defunct)

Seattle-centric reporting and aggregation, and a place for former Post-Intelligencer staffers to practice their craft

By Alex Fekula

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON — [Editor's Note: The Seattle PostGlobe announced that it would cease publication on July 29, 2011. Sally Deneen, the site's co-founder and news curator (and the journalist interviewed for the profile below), wrote about the decision here. This profile was originally published on June 3, 2011.] When the Seattle Post-Intelligencer laid off nearly all its staff and went online-only in March of...

Jan 25, 2012 12:56 AM

Sheepshead Bites

Hyperlocal stories by the seaside in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn

By Caitlin Kasunich

sheepshead.bites.png BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — Nearly four years ago, the late renowned Brooklyn blogger Robert Guskind pointed out in his coverage of the 2008 Brooklyn Blogfest the pressing need for hyperlocal news sites in the borough's least-covered communities. "While some neighborhoods like Carroll Gardens and Park Slope are written about at length, others, such as Sunset Park and Sheepshead Bay - where...

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...

Jan 5, 2011 06:08 PM

Streetsblog

Public transportation reporters/advocates in NYC, DC, LA, and SF

By Alex Fekula

NEW YORK, NEW YORK — Transport-obsessed site Streetsblog--which focuses on everything from bike lines to subway fare hikes--was born, appropriately, in transport-obsessed New York City. Originally launched in 2006 by Aaron Naparstek, it has since branched out to cover transportation in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. Streetsblog has its origins in the advocacy movement, focusing on local...

May 17, 2011 11:51 AM

Summit County Citizens Voice

Local news and environment coverage for Summit County, Colo.

By Alex Fekula

FRISCO, COLORADO — The day Bob Berwyn of the Summit County Citizens Voice was scheduled to be interviewed by CJR, he had to beg off due to what is apparently a not uncommon event when reporting from Summit County, Colo., home of famed ski resorts like Vail and Breckenridge. "I just got called to a search and rescue," he wrote via e-mail. "Lost snowmobiler. Prob...

Oct 25, 2011 11:47 AM

Texas Watchdog

A government watchdog for the Lone Star State

By Timothy Bella

HOUSTON, TEXAS — The audience that reads Texas Watchdog's reporting may not be familiar with the news site or the organization behind it, but that's okay by TW. "Being online, half our visitors, quite frankly, don't know who Texas Watchdog is, and they don't care who Texas Watchdog is," says Trent Seibert, the site's founder and editor-in-chief. All that matters is the quality...

Apr 27, 2012 01:03 PM

The American Independent News Network

A nonprofit news network refocusing in a bid for national relevance

By Erik Shilling

the.american.independent.news.network.png WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA — When the American Independent News Network launched nearly six years ago as the Center for Independent Media, its goals were small. The nonprofit news organization was one of several that launched around the same time, including ProPublica, MinnPost.com, and Voice of San Diego, mostly in response to the ebbing fortunes of newspapers and a...

Dec 12, 2011 11:24 AM

The Austin Bulldog

An investigative reporter in the Texas capital

By Caitlin Kasunich

the.austin.bulldog.png AUSTIN, TEXAS — In January of 2011, Ken Martin, the founder, editor, and publisher of The Austin Bulldog, an independent nonprofit investigative news website, got a tip from a prospective Austin city council candidate that council members were holding private meetings. The Texas Open Meetings Act prohibits private meetings for the purpose of deliberating on public business. And yet, on four...

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 — [UPDATE: In May 2012, the Bay Citizen merged with the Center for Investigative Reporting, the oldest nonprofit investigative news organization in the United States and the parent of state-level investigative nonprofit California Watch. The merger allowed the organizations to expand their reporting resources, save money, and diversify their funding base. The merger brought together 75...

May 26, 2011 01:28 PM

The Beachwood Reporter

A belligerently informed take on Chicago media, sports, and culture

By Armin Rosen

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS — In 2006, after fifteen years as a print journalist, including six years as a political reporter with Chicago Magazine, Steve Rhodes took the biggest gamble of his career. Frustrated with what he viewed as the magazine's obliviousness towards the Internet, he quit his job and threw all of his financial and journalistic resources behind his own online magazine, The Beachwood Reporter....

Jan 5, 2011 08:37 PM

The Chicago News Cooperative

Newspaper-style journalism for the Chicagoland area

By Alex Fekula

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS — [UPDATE: On February 20, 2012, Chicago News Cooperative editor and CEO James O'Shea announced that CNC was suspending its website, as well as its contributions to The New York Times, in order to " reassess our operations and determine if there is a more sustainable path to the future."] The Chicago News Cooperative was famously the first outside news organization...

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 10:39 PM

The Daily Yonder

Local rural news on a national level. Yes, you heard right.

By Chris Benz

Daily.Yonder.png WHITESBURG, KENTUCKY — The Daily Yonder strives towards a paradoxical mission: local news on a national level. The website covers rural news and rural issues, posting about one to four new articles a day. The Yonder's mission is to fill a local journalism void in rural areas, and to that end it allows small town papers to publish its content for free. The website...

Mar 24, 2011 11:35 AM

The Florida Independent (Defunct)

Legislative watchdogging and more

By Chris Benz

The.Florida.Independent.png TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA — [UPDATE:The Florida Independent was closed by its parent, the American Independent News Network, on April 27, 2011, just before the site's second birthday. CJR's detailed profile of AINN's refocusing on a national audience after shutting down all but one of its state sites can be found here.] Launched in May 2010 with a $352,000 grant from the Knight Foundation, <a href="http://floridaindependent.com/"...

Jul 20, 2011 12:47 PM

The Forum

Local news for four small New Hampshire towns

By Georgia Schoonmaker

The.Forum.png DEERFIELD, NEW HAMPSHIRE — When Denise Greig and some colleagues founded New Hampshire-based digital newspaper The Forum in 2005, web-based journalism hadn't really made its way to the rural communities that it served. "When we took on [this project], we were explaining the Internet to our funders," laughs Greig, the current chair of The Forum's board of directors. Six years later, with The Forum...

Jul 5, 2012 03:13 PM

The Hechinger Report

Strengthening education reporting nationwide

By Hiten Samtani

the.hechinger.report.png NEW YORK, NY — In September 2011, reporter Jon Marcus wrote a story for The Washington Post which showed that, despite increased enrollment thanks to an expanded G.I. Bill, colleges weren't doing enough to support the unique needs of veterans pursuing higher education. Shortly after the story was published, colleges in the DC area added coordinators to help veterans with services. Over eight...

Aug 10, 2011 01:05 PM

The Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism

Investigative reporting for the Hawkeye State

By Alex Fekula

IOWA CITY, IOWA — Stephen Berry worked for over thirty years as an investigative journalist, a tenure that included a seven year stint as an investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times and a 1993 Pulitzer for Investigative Journalism while working at the Orlando Sentinel. In 2003, Berry opted to enter the world of academia, becoming a professor of journalism at the University of Iowa....

Oct 24, 2011 04:57 PM

The Ithaca Independent

One man among the gorges

By Daniel Luzer

ITHACA, NEW YORK — The major daily paper of Ithaca, N.Y., the Ithaca Journal, is, like eighty-two other daily papers in America, part of the Gannett chain. Over the last decade or so, Ithaca resident Ed Sutherland, who writes business news for computer blog Cult of Mac, started to notice a change in the paper. Over time, much of the content in the...

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...

Jan 19, 2011 04:42 PM

The Locust Fork News-Journal

A one-man purveyor of mobile journalism performance art

By Michael Meyer

locust.fork.news-journal.png BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA — The Locust Fork News-Journal, like many websites, is wholly devoted to the quirks, whims, emotions, and talents of its founder--in this case, a former newspaper reporter and self-proclaimed champion of the "independent watchdog Web press" named Glynn Wilson. Unlike most sites (including many owned by the "corporate media" Wilson rails against) the News-Journal is stable and profitable--a testament to what can...

Jun 30, 2011 11:50 AM

The Los Angeles Review of Books

A book review section for a post-print age

By Lauren Kirchner

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — Tom Lutz, nonfiction author and creative writing professor, offers a startling statistic about the book business on his new website: "twenty times as many titles are published each year than were in 1980, and we have one twentieth of the serious book reviews." The Los Angeles Review of Books, an online magazine launched by Lutz in April 2011, is his...

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...

Jan 14, 2011 12:47 PM

The Rapidian

Grand Rapids-based citizen journalism

By Alex Fekula

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN — Grand Rapids-based The Rapidian takes the concept of grassroots citizen journalism to heart. A community-wide project, operating under a for-us/by-us ethos, The Rapidian was created by the Grand Rapids Community Media Center, a nonprofit media and technology support organization for the Grand Rapids area. The Center began as a public access television station, and currently operates two television stations, a noncommercial...

Jan 5, 2011 03:54 PM

The Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University

The first university-based investigative nonprofit

By Colin Fleming

WALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS — In 2004, former Washington Post reporter Florence Graves founded The Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University, thereby creating the very first university-based investigative nonprofit. In less than seven years, The Schuster Institute has snatched up more than ten awards and had its work published everywhere from Foreign Policy to Good Housekeeping. It is also one of the few American...

Dec 29, 2010 02:01 PM

The St. Louis Beacon

"News that matters" for St. Louis

By Kathy Gilsinan

St. LOUIS, MISSOURI — Margaret Freivogel's thirty-four years as a reporter and editor at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch came to an end when she took a buyout in 2005. "Several of us took buyouts without any intention of doing anything else at that point," Freivogel says. "We were just kind of weary." But within a year, Freivogel and a few former colleagues had begun work on...

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. ...

Mar 24, 2011 11:50 AM

TucsonSentinel.com

Continuing an underdog media legacy in Tucson

By Alex Fekula

TUCSON, ARIZONA — After a 138-year run, the Tucson Citizen, a daily that reported on such historic events as the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, closed its doors in May of 2009. Dylan Smith, the Citizen's online editor, was among the many journalists displaced by the paper's disbanding. Not content to let the Arizona Daily Star claim victory in Tucson's newspaper war, Smith undertook what...

Jun 7, 2011 11:27 AM

Twin Cities Daily Planet

Citizen-powered local news for Minneapolis and St. Paul

By Armin Rosen

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA — The Twin Cities Daily Planet focuses on a combination of neighborhood-level news and coverage of progressive, social justice-related issues in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. But it wants to be more than just a news-gathering operation. The Daily Planet is just as committed to creating journalists--or, perhaps more accurately, citizens who engage with their communities through journalism--as it is to publishing them,...

Mar 27, 2013 10:43 AM

Uptown Messenger

Hyperlocal news for a neighborhood in New Orleans

By Meredith Qualls

Uptown.Messenger.png NEW ORLEANS, LA — Robert Morris began his career in print journalism, working for a string of weekly and daily newspapers before deciding he needed a change. "I liked journalism and I liked my job and I really liked the people I worked with, but it seemed like such a long road to be a 28-year-old reporter watching the newspaper industry shrink," he says. <!--...

Jan 5, 2011 05:30 PM

voiceofsandiego.org

A nonprofit news innovator in Southern California

By David Downs

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA — Exposing the darker side of a sunny beach city, the six-year-old news site Voice of San Diego is having a larger influence than its small size might suggest. With 170,000 unique visitors a month, the nationally renowned nonprofit has an annual budget of $1.2 million (mostly from grants), a slim staff of fifteen, and a content-sharing deal with NBC...

Mar 25, 2011 03:09 AM

VTDigger.org

Deep coverage for the Green Mountain State

By Daniel Luzer

VT.Digger.png MONTPELIER, VERMONT — As the name suggests, VTDigger (pronounced "V.T. Digger," not "Vermont Digger") aims to provide deep coverage of local issues in the Green Mountain State. "I wanted to follow stories in-depth," explains Anne Galloway, the publication's editor-in-chief. "Not all of our stories are investigative; but we want them all to go deep." While it's not all hard-hitting political stories--the day after Christmas, Digger...

Oct 26, 2011 06:13 PM

Washington Independent Review of Books

Serious-minded reviews of books across the literary spectrum

By Daniel Luzer

washington.independent.review.of.books.png WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA — When newspapers across the country have to cut costs, their book sections inevitably end up on the chopping block. David O. Stewart, president of the Freedom to Write Fund, which is dedicated to education and public advocacy on behalf of writers, says that he and the other members of the Fund became concerned about shrinking book review sections and the...

Feb 22, 2012 01:38 PM

Welles Park Bulldog

News and sports for Chicago's North Side

By Ian Fullerton

welles.park.bulldog.png CHICAGO, ILLINOIS — The Welles Park Bulldog takes its name from a picturesque public park in Chicago's Ravenswood neighborhood, and delivers insight and opinion on politics, culture, and sports for a dense stretch of residential and mixed-use boroughs on Chicago's North Side. The site's founder and publisher, Patrick Boylan, first had the idea that would eventually become the Bulldog in 2009. "I had...

Mar 24, 2011 03:27 PM

West Virginia Watchdog

Think tank-funded West Virginia political news and investigations

By Brendan Buhler

West.Virginia.Watchdog.png CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA — West Virginia Watchdog is a one-man shop focusing on investigative and statehouse news in the Mountain State. The site is part of a network of sites around the country that share the Watchdog name. The Watchdog's sole editorial employee is Steven Allen Adams, who is also a stringer for Reuters and contributes to a Charleston, W.V. entertainment news website called Kanawha...

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.]...

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...