A Real Response to the Internet

The Chicago Tribune has launched a community journalism Web site encouraging readers in nine suburbs to post their own articles, photos and blogs.

"This started with the question of how can we make the paper more relevant to readers who continue to live further and further away from the center city," said Ted Biedron, president of the Tribune division that designed the site. . . .

The Web site was modeled after YourHub.com, produced by the Denver Rocky Mountain News. John Temple, the newspaper's editor, said some of the content is questionable, but the site adds richer news coverage on local issues.

"It's inevitable that traditional journalists are going to view this as inferior, almost ridiculous," Temple said. "But anything that brings people into the public discussion is potentially valuable."

The paper periodically will publish some of the reader-submitted articles in a special supplement, officials said.

"A lot of it, just like the Web site, will be lightly edited," said spokesman Mike Dizon. "The intention is to keep it true to the writer's voice."

This strikes me as a truly substantive reaction to the Internet in journalism. It's an order of magnitude above newspapers starting blogs with their house voices doing the posting -- if I want to read what these reporters and columnists have to say, I'll read their reports and columns.

It gives people who would otherwise be leaving comments on those blogs a forum to present their views that won't be buried.