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How local would you like for your news to be? More local, I'm sure, than most mass media organizations believe they are capable of delivering.
You want to know all that's happening within blocks of your home. Shops that are opening or closing. Awards Day at your child's school. The story behind the clipped utility pole down the street - and was anyone hurt? Who among your neighbors took a vacation of a lifetime.
In our business, we call that hyper-local news. It's news that unfolds as locally as your neighborhood and often gets shared across the backyard fence.
We know this news is important to you. That's why we will launch a yearlong experiment to provide that news through partnerships with hyper-local Web sites.
In some neighborhoods, these sites already exist. In others, someone with the passion and skills might welcome the opportunity to start one. In either case, we'd like to hear from those who are doing this or are interested in the idea.
We will partner with a minimum of five such sites in 2010 under a $45,000 grant obtained through J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism at American University in Washington, D.C. The funding is provided by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
J-Lab keeps track of the growth of community-based news sites nationwide. It has found many that are covering their neighborhoods and small communities well. However, most are in need of money to make their sites an ongoing enterprise. Traditional media organizations also are working to find a business model that can support news coverage that is hyper-local.
By offering these grants, J-Lab hopes to learn if partnerships could help both sides deliver the news that is so important to you. Other newspapers participating in this grant include The Seattle Times, The Miami Herald and the Asheville Citizen-Times.
We're especially interested in partners committed to serve a particular area or topic with local news and advertising. An entrepreneurial spirit is essential, and significant experience in communications will obviously be a plus.
If you are interested, please contact the director of partner operations, Alicia Roberts, by Nov. 4. You can reach her at awroberts@charlotteobserver. com .
