Winds of Change in Chicago News

With four reporters, four freelancers and 100 unpaid contributors, the Chitown Daily News is pioneering a new form of low-cost, street-level reporting, the need for which was dramatically driven home when the Chicago Sun-Times filed for bankruptcy protection. Whether Chitown and similar startup operations can match what newspapers have traditionally done remains an open question. Chitown Daily News, founded in 2005, doesn't cover sports or fashion or movies. For that matter, it doesn't cover the suburbs. Nor does the site carry many feature stories. It serves up a bare-bones menu of the meat and potatoes of municipal governance: "Health care disparities affect city women, minorities." "Public housing residents get help with utility bills." "South Side Census forum airs undercounting concerns." Chitown doesn't even cover Mayor Richard Daley. "We don't see any value in duplicating the Tribune's city hall coverage," says Chitown's Geoff Dougherty.