More than a year and a half ago The New York Times set out on an experiment in hyperlocal and collaborative journalism. We devoted two full-time reporters to the effort, as well as an editor and a number of support and advisory staff journalists. And we picked two fascinating and vibrant communities to launch our little enterprise.
From the beginning, we described this as a pilot, a test, an experiment, because we knew that our path in community journalism couldn’t be paved with sites staffed by full-time New York Times journalists. Nevertheless we were committed to pursuing the journalistic lessons to be found in Web-based community coverage, and made this an editorial priority.
Even when Tina Kelley left The Times in December, we found a way to keep the New Jersey Local going while we searched for a formula that would allow us to keep the site lively and strong without a full-time Times journalist at the helm. Lois DeSocio — with your help, support and dedication — has done a phenomenal job providing these towns with news, information and conversation for the last several months.
But today we write to tell you about another development in the life of The Local, and to inform you about a new opportunity.
The decision has been made to use the knowledge we have gained from the New Jersey Local and take the experiment in a new and exciting direction. And so today this part of The New York Times hyperlocal experiment has come to an end.
The Times is passing the baton to another site, Baristanet.com. Baristanet is one of the most successful hyperlocal Web sites in the country, and its owners, Debbie Galant and Liz George, both experienced writers and editors, are leaders in the field.
Baristanet has served Montclair, Glen Ridge and Bloomfield — an area encompassing about 90,000 people — since its launch in 2004. It also publishes Barista Kids, a guide for parents in Essex County. In 2007 Baristanet was named the Best Placeblog in America, and it became a member of the New Jersey Press Association in 2009. Now they are beginning a new site to cover Maplewood, Millburn and South Orange, starting tomorrow, July 1. They will reference The Local in their coverage and link freely to our archives, which will remain online.
This is an opportunity for The Local’s contributors to continue their blogging and reach a larger local audience, and for Local readers to continue to receive high-quality coverage, with a bold personality and lively writing.
Expect to see representatives of Baristanet — including their new blogger-in-chief, Jolie Solomon, a Maplewood resident — around the towns.
From its launch on March 2, 2009, the heart of The Local has been our contributors, who taught us that communities are filled with talented, civic-minded, interested and interesting people who have much to offer in the way of local coverage. We are spreading that message far and wide, encouraging other journalists and news organizations — and other citizens — to venture down this path.
But beyond the journalistic lessons, those of us on the editing end of The Local — Mary Ann Giordano, Jim Schachter, Lois DeSocio, Tina Kelley and other members of The Times team — have considered it a privilege to work with the people of Maplewood, Millburn and South Orange. We move onto our next experiments knowing we have accomplished good things and that the lessons here — and friendships made — will be carried forward in new and exciting ways.
Meanwhile, continuing coverage of the towns will be provided by Baristanet.com. We will be reading — and we hope you will, too.
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