By: E&P Staff A team of public service-minded Chicago journalists has announced the launch of the Chicago News Cooperative (CNC), an organization whose mission it will be to provide high-quality news and commentary to the Chicago region on print and broadcast platforms.
The CNC is headed by Editor James O?Shea, former Los Angeles Times editor and former managing editor of the Chicago Tribune. The group?s official ?start,? he said in a release Thursday, coincides with the signing of its first customer, The New York Times. CNC will provide two pages of CNC-branded news and commentary to the Gray Lady twice a week in its Chicago editions on Fridays and Sundays beginning Nov. 20.
In addition to its arrangement with Times and its collaboration with Chicago public television station WTTW, CNC is developing a news Web site to be called Chicago Scoop that is expected to go live in early 2010.
O?Shea said in a statement, ?At a time of declining resources in newsrooms across the nation, journalists must adapt to new technologies and devise some creative, innovative ways to fulfill our obligations, so we can hold our government accountable to citizens and restore to our journalism the standards desperately needed in these troubled times.?
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a major funding source for CNC?s initial operations. It plans to solicit membership in the cooperative as it expands.
Although CNC will for now operate a stand-alone newsroom, it is also seeking to collaborate with other Chicago-based media to share resources and ultimately produce content jointly. In the case of the New York Times arrangement, the Times will pay CNC for the content it provides.
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