About

The NEW News 2012 report is the third in a series of reports surveying the online Chicago News Ecosystem. For more information about the 2009 and 2010 NEW News reports, visit the website at www.communitymediaworkshop.org/newnews

ABOUT THE COMMUNITY MEDIAWORKSHOP

Community media workshop is a 20-year-old nonprofit whose mission is to diversity the voices in the news and public debates through communications coaching for some 2,000 nonprofit volunteers and staff a year, as well as sourcing and newstips from nonprofit groups and journalists. based at Columbia College Chicago, the workshop can be found online at www.community mediaworkshop.org.

The Community media workshop did not review or rank any of its own long-standing news sites in the interest of transparency and fairness. (The workshop ranked #21 out of 60 sites ranked in The new news 2009. Recent research by northwestern university found communitymediaworkshop.org amongst the top 10 referring websites in the region.)

Newstips.org has been published since 1989 and on the web since 1996 and has a significant following amongst local reporters and community leaders. our Chicago is the World ethnic media blog covers issues important to the region’s immigrant communities and houses our “we’re not alone/no estamos solos” anti-violence project. The Nonprofit Communicator blog is a popular site among nonprofit communications professionals in Chicago and illinois. The Chicagostories.org site for reporters and visitors new to Chicago attracted over 8,000 unique visitors and 40,000 page views leading up to the recent naTo summit. The CommunitynewsProject.org blog contains commentary and links to content from the highly regarded local Reporting initiative, also supported by The Chicago Community Trust.

ABOUT THE CHICAGO COMMUNITY TRUST

The Chicago Community Trust, our region’s community foundation, partners with donors to leverage their philanthropy in ways that transform lives and communities. The Trust, together with its donors, grants more than $100 million annually to nonprofits working to develop new audiences to sustain the region’s vibrant arts organizations, protect the human services safety net for those hardest hit by the recession, stem the devastating effects of foreclosures on our neighborhoods, elevate teaching to meet world-class standards, and improve conditions for healthy and active lifestyles. by connecting the generosity of donors with the needs of the community, the Trust ensures that our region thrives today and for future generations. To learn more, please visit the Trust online at www.cct.org.

The Community news matters program was spurred by a lead grant from the John s. and James l. knight Foundation’s knight Community information Challenge. it seeks to increase the flow of truthful, accurate and insightful news and information in the region and spur development of new business models for news. The knight Community information Challenge is a five-year, $24 million effort to help community and place- based foundations find creative ways to use new media and technology to keep residents informed and engaged.

ABOUT THE JOHN D. AND CATHERINE T. MACARTHUR FOUNDATION

The macarthur Foundation supports creative people and effective institutions committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. in addition to selecting the macarthur Fellows, the Foundation works to defend human rights, advance global conservation and security, make cities better places, and understand how technology is affecting children and society. more information is at www.macfound.org.

NEXT: Acknowledgements & Advisory Board