CHICAGO-
The Chicago Tribune has launched a community journalism Web site encouraging readers in nine suburbs to post their own unedited articles, photos and blogs.
“This started with the question of how can we make the paper more relevant to readers who continue to live further and further away from the center city,” said Ted Biedron, president of the Tribune division that designed the site.
The Web site was announced in Thursday’s edition of the Chicago Tribune.
Triblocal will have a staff of four journalists, but the majority of the site’s content will be written by readers.
Biedron said sites like MySpace.com have persuaded publishers that there is value in allowing readers to publish their own content.
The western suburbs the site covers are Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles, Elburn and Maple Park. The southern suburbs are Tinley Park, Orland Park, Orland Hills and Homer Glen.
Biedron said the company plans to expand the list of communities.
Anyone who posts on triblocal.com has to register, provide a phone number and accept the terms of a user agreement.
The Web site has been modeled after YourHub.com, which is produced by the Denver Rocky Mountain News. John Temple, the newspaper’s editor, said some of the content is questionable, but the site adds richer news coverage on local issues.
“It’s inevitable that traditional journalists are going to view this as inferior, almost ridiculous,” Temple said. “But anything that brings people into the public discussion is potentially valuable.”
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On the Net:
Triblocal:
YourHub:
