Team 4: City Slickers

Dallas Morning News

Allan Houston

Summary

• A weekly print edition of staff and reader-generated content that complements an online presence for an un-served community

Target Audience

• South Dallas, a community of about 200,00 people; mostly African-American

Goals

• To provide coverage for an underserved community

• Currently underserved by all local media; no current full-time Metro beat at DMN

Mechanics

• Build awareness of the website with local churches, civic groups, schools, neighborhood associations and community colleges

• Educate them about the benefits of posting content to neighborsgo

• Use online content to publish a weekly print edition that, combined with in-house editorial, goes out in the Saturday DMN

Mechanics, Cont’d.

• A simple tool at the top of the page where readers can upload contributions

• Modules for reader-submitted stories, photos, blogs, forums, events and faith (church events)

washingtonpost.com

Dave Marino-Nachison

Summary

• An online community that targets the Spanish-speaking populations of Alexandria and Arlington, Va.

Target Audience

• Would like to target the Spanish-speaking immigrant community in the suburbs

• Chose Alexandria/Arlington specifically as a place where there is a large-number of immigrants but also where their experience is less commonly framed in divisive terms

Goals

• Associate local Spanish-speakers with the post.com brand and content

• Position the website to benefit from growth in bilingual readers in coming years

Mechanics

• Under a separate, Post-associated URL, create a blog headed by a local journalist focusing on relevant community issues

• Provide platform for user-generated content and commentary; find “real-world” ways to take in content, such as through voicemail and text messaging

Mechanics, Cont’d.

• Offer tools for distributing Jobs classifieds for Spanish speakers (text and e-mail alerts)

• Host a weekly, web-based news and events-based radio program that encourages live feedback

• Free classifieds listings

New York Post

Cassie Carothers

Summary

• To offer borough-specific content centers that combine news coverage and resources

Target Audience

• Current readers looking for more detailed coverage of their communities

Goals

• To grow the audience by providing useful content organized in a single place

Mechanics

• Daily news from the day’s paper and our network of borough-based weeklies

• Police blotter info by borough, rather than our current roundup, plus a link to municipal database

• Traffic and transit component, including a message board and other UGC (transit updates, etc.)

Mechanics, Cont’d.

• Borough-based blogs; find established writers that cover communities while also referring readers to other leading blogs in the community

• Weather

• Entertainment calendar and restaurant listings

Chicago Tribune

Lara Weber

Summary

• A bilingual source of parenting information for busy Chicago-area parents

Target Audience

• Parents (both mothers and fathers)

• Bilingual readers; the growing Hispanic community

Goals

• To reach bilingual readers, a growing community in Chicagoland

• To leverage an existing organizational focus on the parenting community

Mechanics

• Develop pages on chicagotribune.com and hoyinternet.com that would be utility-focused

• Links to databases of parent resources

School information

Community information

Mechanics, Cont’d

• Pick up all current parent and family-related content from Tribune, Hoy, and other Tribune-owned media outlets

• Develop bilingual parenting blog with writers from both Hoy and the Tribune

• Create the opportunity for online communities to grow through forums and message boards