The New York Times and New York University have jointly launched a new hyperlocal blog today covering the East Village neighbourhood of Manhattan.
According to a release from NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, The Local: East Village is aiming for 50 per cent of its content to be produced by members of the neighbourhood’s community. Readers will be able to submit content to the site through its Virtual Assignment Desk, which allows readers to send in stories, photographs, multimedia, and news tips.
Some content will be paid for, says NYU professor Jay Rosen, who is acting as an advisor to the project, but the site will also rely on voluntary contributions.
Most of the site’s content will be provided by students on The Hyperlocal Newsroom, a new course in NYU’s Reporting New York program.
Editor of the site is Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute professor and former Times reporter Richard G. Jones, who calls the site “a significant step forward in pro-am journalism collaborations”. He will work alongside Times deputy metro editor Mary Ann Giordano.
The Times launched ‘The Local’ project last year with two New York hyperlocal blogs covering Brooklyn and New Jersey, both run in conjunction with City University of New York (CUNY). In July this year the newspaper passed control of the New Jersey site to Barstanet.com.
More from the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at this link.
More on the The Local: East Village and NYU’s Hyperlocal Newsroom Summer School in the video below.
The Local East Village from NYU Journalism on Vimeo.
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