Ay, I found this interesting article on AJR.com about community journalism. This coffee shop in Freehold, New Jersey has doubled as a newsroom. Pretty cool, huh? The site, Freehold InJersey is one of 14 Gannett-owned community news blogs across the state. This site is the first of its kind because the news blog is run right from Zebu Forno, the coffee shop. There's only on paid staff member, and that's Editor Colleen Curry. She has about 15 volunteers that work with her regularly. Some of them are high school kids, which I would think this type of platform would attract them the most to journalism. The regular volunteers as well as citizens within the community get a chance to come in and report what's happening around them and what's important to them. But, the editor does have the right to take down anything on the blog that she deems unacceptable.(Hmm.. debatable much? I think so...*one raised eyebrow*) I definitely think this is a step in the right direction though. Dr. Wilson Lowery thinks so too! He's quoted in the story on how beneficial this can be toward teaching his master's degree students about community journalism. I wonder if this type of forum would work in Tuscaloosa. I think it could be a positive thing. Check the article out when you gotta minute. It's called Cappuccino and Citizen Journalism.
