The New York Times announced on Monday plans to roll out a new Web site covering New York’s East Village – a hyperlocal play that’s a collaboration between the paper and New York University.
The site – which will be called "Local East Village" and live on NYTimes.com — is scheduled to launch in the fall, a few months before the Times will presumably unveil its highly-anticipated metered online pay wall thing.
Richard Jones, a former Times reporter, will serve as the editor of the site, working with students and faculty to “cover the news of everyday life in the neighborhood.”
Of course, there’s an academic angle: According to the Times, N.Y.U. will offer a course called “The Hyperlocal Newsroom” in which students will “engage in a variety of ways, including reporting and writing for the site.”
This is just the latest “hyperlocal” experiment the Times is involved in. Later this year, the Bay Area News Project, a San Francisco-based non-profit newsroom, will begin generating news for a local edition of the Times — a move that was perceived as threatening by the San Francisco Chronicle.
The paper already has or has announced similar initiatives in Brooklyn and Chicago.
Jim Schachter, the Times’ editor of digital initiatives, said it’s the goal of the paper “to expand our network of collaborations, in the New York area and across the country, through associations with individuals, companies and institutions that share our values — foremost, increasing the volume and scope of quality journalism about issues that matter.”
More to read:
