Tag: Community News Matters

Community News Matters: SallyDuros.com a top news hub connecting Chicago micro-news sites

I haven’t been doing much work lately with Chicago’s online indy news community but it’s good to see my work and my writings made a difference back in 2009 and beyond. Would that I could afford to do it, I would still be writing about our online news world as it evolves, but I am quite happy to be writing the social media blog for the Chicago Tribune’s 435Digital. And being a part of that evolving world.

As to Chicago’s indy news stream, I wrote then and still believe, there is an enormous need for news providers to come together and figure out a way to make a living. But since I am not officially called a “news” site, I have not recently been involved in any of those efforts. I hope they are going well and look forward to learning more as national efforts like the RJI’s Block by Block evolves.

Thanks for the nod, Chicago Community Trust.

Dear Friends of Community News Matters,

Given your interest in the health of Chicago’s online news ecosystem, I know you’ll want to read a just-released Community News Matters report on the results of groundbreaking research into the links among and between Chicago’s many online news sites.

View the press release at www.cct.org.

The report finds a surprisingly high percentage of the area’s news and information websites are isolated from each other and are not taking advantage of the many ways they can expand their audiences, their influence and their service to the area.

It identifies more than 400 websites providing news and information relevant to Chicagoland residents, from sites of mainstream media to new news sites to sites of government agencies, universities, cultural institutions, foundations and nonprofits.

Using sophisticated network analysis, it identifies which of those sites are playing one or more of five important roles in the local news ecosystem — as “authorities,” “hubs,” “switchboards,” “referrers” and “resources.” Included among the top four sites on one or more of these lists are these 23 sites:

• austintalks.org
• badatsports.com
• blogs.southtownstar.com
• chicago.metblogs.com
• chicagocarless.com
• chicagostorytelling.com
• chicagotribune.com
• communitymediaworkshop.org
• ctatattler.com
• gapersblock.com
• hydeparkprogress.blogspot.com
• macfound.org
• mcachicago.org
• nytimes.com
• outsidetheloopradio.com
• saic.edu
• sallyduros.com
• sbnation.com
• suntimes.com
• thegallerycrawlandsomuchmore.blogspot.com
• transitchicago.com
• uchicago.edu
• windycitizen.com

Hope you find the report interesting and useful!

Vivian Vahlberg
Project Director, Community News Matters
The Chicago Community Trust

Community News Matters Info session Jan. 19 – be there!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f3dUPk5uyQ[/youtube]

If you live in Chicago and you report on happenings in your neighborhood, you might want to check out this grant program by the Chicago Community Trust. CCT and its partners are making small grants to fortify the news stream in underserved communities. You can read all about it on CCT’s website.

Attend the information session Wednesday, Jan. 19, to get the details and meet others who are involved in creating Chicago’s hyperlocal news system. I’ll be there – join me!

Foundations Create Local Reporting Initiative For Low-Income Communities
The Chicago Community Trust Explores Development of an Advertising Network for Online News

January 10, 2011, Chicago – The Chicago Community Trust, our region’s community foundation, announced the creation of a one-year, $247,000 Local Reporting Initiative to stimulate a wave of new reporting and analysis of important issues affecting low-income communities on the south and west sides of Chicago.

“High quality reporting and analysis is the lifeblood of civic life,” said Ngoan Le, vice president of program for The Chicago Community Trust. “With so many important decisions affecting our city, county and state in the coming year, it’s essential that citizens and policy-makers know what’s at stake.“

As part of this Initiative, the Trust issued a request for proposals from nonprofits, for-profit companies and individuals for Local Reporting Awards totaling $110,000. Some of the awards will be for $2,000 each and others will be for $10,000.

Le said she hopes that “policy groups, community organizations, media outlets of all kinds and individuals who care about these communities will be inspired by the Initiative to step up” with proposals for new reporting projects.

The Initiative is part of the Trust’s Community News Matters program, launched in 2009 by an initial grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to increase the flow of truthful, accurate and insightful local news and information and help the region’s cutting edge innovators develop new models for providing news and information. The Initiative is funded by The Chicago Community Trust, Knight Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the McCormick Foundation. The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation and Woods Fund of Chicago provide funding for other Community News Matters activities.

All those interested in applying for an award through the Local Reporting Initiative should attend a special information session January 19 from 10 a.m. to noon on the second floor at 618 South Michigan Avenue. Proposals are due by noon February 21, 2011.

Go to www.communitynewsmatters.org for a copy of the award application and Request for Proposals. For additional information, contact vivian@cct.org.

L3C discussion at Community Media Workshop

I’ll be joining John Plunkett and Thom Clark in a discussion about the new L3C business structure and how it could be useful to new media orgs on Friday, May 7. Stop by and join the discussion.

I hope you’ll be able to join us Friday when The Chicago Community Trust’s Community News Matters program and Community Media Workshop host an informational session to discuss the L3C model and how it might benefit new news organizations looking for a more flexible method of organizing that differs both from standard business
incorporation and 501c3 nonprofit status.

When: Friday, May 7; Coffee at 8:30; program from 9-10:30
Where: Room 401, 600 S. Michigan Ave. at Columbia College Chicago

We’ll discuss what an L3C is and why some new news journalists have
been exploring it. Harborquest CEO John Plunkett, whose nonprofit
helped initiate the enabling legislation that created L3Cs in the
state of Illinois and was the first to use the new status, will talk
about how to take advantage of L3C status and how it fits into the new
wave of “social venture investing” in Chicago. Journalist and media
expert Sally Duros will talk about special considerations for news
outlets.

We hope you’ll join us to find out more about the new L3C model.

This event is free but please RSVP by emailing Maggie Walker at
maggie@newstips.org.

Vivian Vahlberg
Project Director
Community News Matters

Sally Duros on Chicago Tonight, future of news and what’s happened since

After I wrote a series of articles for the Huffington Post on the promise of a mission-based news room L3C and the struggles of Chicago’s nascent news blogosphere I was invited to serve on a committee hosted by the Chicago Community Trust. With our input, the Chicago Community Trust in conjunction with the Knight Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation decided to develop a seed fund to fortify the city’s emerging news streams.

I was fortunate to land some consulting clients later in 2009 that lined up my work life squarely with my passion. That passion, to bring journalistic writing standards to the web and to bring the Web’s innovations to newsrooms – has absorbed my life for the past 20 years. I’ll be writing about that in columns to come.

One of my new clients was Andy Shaw, former Channel 7 news reporter and new Executive Director for Chicago’s Better Government Association. Together we developed a strategy and series of proposals for the BGA’s online presence. The other client is LISC-Chicago, whose anti-poverty and community development work is stretching the boundaries of community based multimedia. LISC-Chicago is also working in partnership with other news rooms like that of the Chicago Reporter and Catalyst to build a hyperlocal news bureau.

It was a year ago [March 31, 2009] that the Chicago Sun-Times declared bankruptcy and I was on a Chicago Tonight segment discussing the future of news in Chicago, the L3C mission-based newsroom and the state of the Sun-Times newsroom. Much has happened since then. The Sun-Times was bought by James Tyree and a group of investors. The Chicago Tribune unveiled its Chicago Now blog group. The Chicago News Cooperative, a “possible” news co-op and “maybe” L3C was unveiled. And Geoff Dougherty’s flagship NPO newsroom, The Chi-Town Daily News, closed its doors.

I have traveled extensively researching new media trends and surfacing ideas. I am still at it. There is more to come. And I am excited to share.