A new report from Chicago's from the Community Media Workshop offers an inventory and assessment of area online news sites. The premise was that there has been and continues to be enough talk about the challenges of funding journalism going forward. The aim, therefore, is to stop talking about dollars and discuss values. What kind of news is wanted and necessary and where might it be found, apart from the big mainstream news? Focus groups made up of leaders of non-profit organizations from across the region hardly make a typical audience sample, but those gathered for this study said they wanted news that was accurate, honest and fair, presented in a way that prioritized importance and gave a sense of the big picture. The study -- through the use of keyword searches of only the print editions of the Tribune and Sun-Times from 1986 to the present, ignoring their online efforts -- cites a decline in local news coverage after an apparent peak in 1994. Exceptions included corruption and bribery.
