Seattle Times
Originally uploaded by kriskiedis20

The Seattle Times today announced a community news partnership with CHS Capitol Hill Seattle and 3 other less important neighborhood news sites in Seattle, the West Seattle Blog, MyBallard and The Rainier Valley Post.

It’s an exciting project for CHS to be part of and a recognition of the hard work and good technology behind this site. I’m also especially proud to have CHS prove itself in an environment still very much stuck on the idea that there is one authority on a news site. Yes, a small handful of main contributors and I do a large part of the heavy lifting here but our open, truly community driven format adds an amazing level of extra information gathering, reporting and, my favorite, serendipity to the mix. It’s brave of the Seattle Times to work with us in this project. Of course, if they really want to get ready for the future, it’s a must. The new partnership will also mean more attention and support for the rest of the Seattle Neighborlogs sites from Central District News to Belltownpeople.

As for what the partnership entails, it’s mostly about learning and news gathering right now. There are no major business or advertising implications though the small amount of money made available to the sites in the partnership from the Knight Foundation will help us grow (and buy a new camera!). There are, however, a lot of opportunities we are exploring that will allow CHS to put Seattle Times assets to work to bring you even better coverage of the lives and times of Capitol Hill.

In the meantime, it’s business as usual here so buy an ad, already! If you’re curious about how much it costs to include your message in one of

 Here’s the announcement from the Times:

The Seattle Times forms partnership with local news Web sites

The Seattle Times and some of Seattle’s most respected neighborhood news Web sites have struck a unique partnership as part of a nationwide Networked Journalism pilot project. The project, which will last one year, is overseen by American University’s J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism and funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The other national news organizations participating in the pilot program are The Miami Herald, The Charlotte Observer, the Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times and TucsonCitizen.com.

 

The overall goals of the alliance are to explore new ways to broaden newsgathering capabilities and further connections within the community. The Seattle Times will work with community news producers and Web sites that are staffed with professionals who share The Seattle Times’ journalistic values.

 

“We’ve been moving down this track already, but much too slowly,” David Boardman, executive editor of The Seattle Times. “This will both kick-start it, give us a better organizing framework and give us a way to share successes and challenges with others. It’s perfect timing.”

 

The four local producers and Web sites partnering with The Seattle Times are: Tracy Record, who runs West Seattle Blog and White Center Now; Kate Bergman, who runs Next Door Media, which includes My Ballard, PhinneyWood, Queen Anne View, Magnolia Voice and Freemont Universe; Justin Carder, who runs Capitol Hill Seattle and helped create Neighborlogs, which is the platform for several neighborhood sites in Seattle; and Amber Campbell, who runs the Rainier Valley Post.

The goals of the partnership include: enhancing communication between the respective Web sites and The Seattle Times, and discovering ways to share news tips and collaborate on future news gathering; linking to and promoting stories on partner sites when it may help fill coverage holes; exploring tools that could enhance advertising opportunities across the partner sites; and learning about how such partnerships can benefit the respective sites.

At the conclusion of the project, The Seattle Times will meet with the four other nationally participating news organizations and the lessons learned will appear in an overall J-Lab report on how such Networked Journalism collaborations might work.