'New York Times' to Launch Local Citizen Journalism Sites

By: Joe Strupp The New York Times is joining the growing world of local "citizen journalism" with two Web sites launching Monday focused on five specific communities in New Jersey and Brooklyn, N.Y.

"The Local" will appear on the Times' Web pages with sites dedicated to three communities in New Jersey -- Maplewood, South Orange and Millburn -- and two Brooklyn neighborhoods, Fort Greene and Clinton Hill.

Most of the contributions will come from local residents, with a Times staffer overseeing each site.

"They have each recruited initial contributors and the mission of their sites will be to encourage and instigate people in their communities to do their own reporting and contribute their own creativity to the community we are trying to build online," said Jim Schachter, Times editor/digital initiatives.

Times staffers Tina Kelley, in New Jersey, and Andy Newman, in Brooklyn, have been recruiting contributors and will oversee the sites. Schachter said locals will file stories, photos and other items to each site, but on a volunteer basis.

Deputy Metro Editor Mary Ann Giordano will oversee the two reporters.

"These are pilots," Schachter added. "The way we are doing the pilots is a New York Times metro reporter who will be an anchor person on each of these and lead the community in reporting on these sites."

Asked about the dangers of having inexperienced non-journalists doing reporting for the sites, Schachter said, "I don?t think we would expect to get the exact same thing that we would get from a New York Times reporter. One of the qualities that we bring to the plan is our good judgment."

He also said the new approach is not meant to replace some suburban coverage that has had to be reduced in recent years: "It is a grassroots effort, to see if there is a new kind of journalism we can be part of."

A Times release added, "For the Brooklyn site, The Times is blending its community journalism initiative with one being undertaken by the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. The school will collaborate with The Local in Clinton Hill and Fort Greene to teach residents about reporting and the use of interactive media."

Schachter said the sites will be accessible through an address linked to the Times' home page, such as www.nytimes.com/fortgreene. They may expand to other communities if successful.

"The mission is to educate the community about how to be citizen journalists and contributors," he added. "There are 'place' blogs everywhere. We have to create a real quality community that figures out the answers to questions on the minds of people in each place."

But he admits the money-making options are unknown. "There is no conceivable way that a site staffed with a full-time New York Times journalist can pencil out as profitable," he said. "We are trying to figure out using our people as experimenters if there is a model that combines journalism, technology and advertising that would work."