Interesting day at the office with the unveiling of our NEW News report on Chicago online news.

I wished I was interviewing Phil Rosenthal instead of the other way around this afternoon, since he came up with the best soundbite so far:”It’s about the value, not the cost of local news.” Wish he’d said that in his column! ah, well.

It was nice to get a call from Alexander Russo of the District 299 blog covering Chicago Public Schools. It’s now appearing at Chicago Now and includes a brief mention of the report (good move, Tribune!)

Just a quick wrap up of other reactions: Read the rest of this entry »

As struggling local newspapers continue to abandon the printed page, foundations, entrepreneurs and journalists are launching “hyperlocal” and watchdog news Web sites.

Where and who are they? What do they tell us about the new media landscape?

We’ve pinpointed significant news Web sites emerging around the United States and beyond by creating this custom Google Map for the Community Media Workshop.

Chicago is fertile ground for a number of “new news” sites, such as LISC/New Communities, Chi-Town Daily News and EveryBlock, to name just a few.

Click on the map, then zoom in or search it for specific locations to get a closer view of the emerging players in online news.

Have more sites to add? Please tell us in the comments!

–Elsa Wenzel

When Workshop storyteller trainer Susan O’Halloran was interviewed by New York Times Chicago Bureau Chief Monica Davey for a Sunday pre-election story on preparations for Barack Obama’s election night celebration in Grant Park, little did she know her story about being chased by police out of Grant Park in 1968 would lead to her becoming a citizen journalist for the Canadian Broadcast Corporation.

The CBC contacted Sue and gave her a camera to document her election day experiences–from getting out the vote in Evanston to joining the crowds welcoming the president elect and his family in Grant Park. The subsequent CBC report can be seen here.