Focus: “Linking our community”; information categories include Around NH, Letters/Commentary, Meetings Around Town, News Updates; extensive blogroll of civic groups, municipal offices

Started: January 2009 (archive established)

Staff: all volunteer; Maria Moore is editor, main reporter, photographer; Bob Moore for technical support on the web; other contributors are an at-large reporter and an ad sales person

Funding: advertising sales

Site: newhartfordplus.com

From About Us:

The NewHartfordPlus crew members are New Hartford residents who volunteer their time to report for NewHartfordPlus. They do this because they recognize the community-building potential of an independent, locally-run news medium. Crew members’ reports bring New Hartford news and New Hartford happenings to the New Hartford community.

Sample stories: “Town meeting approves date, wording of referendum”; “Debbie Ventre receives ‘Extraordinary Volunteer’ award”; “Full-time custodian position available: New Hartford schools”; “Wanted: Pinewood Derby sponsors

Focus: “It’s your town, read all about it”; 5-day week online news site covering people, cities, neighborhoods in New Haven; original reporting, links to other sites with New Haven news

Started: 2005

Staff:  13; Editor Paul Bass, a veteran New Haven reporter, Managing Editor Melissa Bailey; 4 staff writers; 5 contributing reporters; bureau chiefs in capital, outlying communities; print partnership with La Voz Hispana, state’s largest circulation Spanish paper

Funding: non-profit — donations, grants, sponsors; site is ;”produced in conjunction with the Online Journalism Project, a not-for-profit effort to promote professional-quality ‘stand-alone’ and ‘hyperlocal’ news sites on the Internet.”

Site: newhavenindependent.org

From About Us

New Haven Independent.org is rooted in and devoted to the city. We believe that democracy starts at home, with smart, thorough, in-depth local news reporting and broad citizen debate about local issues. Thanks to the Internet, journalists and news-deprived citizens need no longer be hostages to out-of-state media conglomerates. We can reclaim our communities. Power of the press now belongs not to those who own one, but to those who own a modem.

Sample stories: “After crash, cop rescued from car”; “Anti-blight bill becomes law”; “Cops arrest lab tech in Annie Le murder”

Media mentions: in New York Times story about local weekly New Haven Advocate outsourcing stories to India, “Made in India, but published in New Haven”

Focus: “A Connecticut news site that understands the usual media offerings just…aren’t…enough”; some statewide general news, but concentration on capital politics and Hartford city; content includes original reporting and links to 44 blogs/news outlets, including watchdog journalism, lifestyle and local news focusses; other coverage: opinion, transportation, legal, labor, health care; a partner with non-profit online news start-up New Haven Independent

Started: 2005

Employees/Writers: Founding Editor Dan Levine, who has a state politics reporting background. Editor Christing Stewart, a former reporter at the Journal Inquirer in Manchester; one college student intern; accepts contributions.

Funding: advertising, donations

The site: ctnewsjunkie.com

From About page

Introducing CTNewsJunkie.com, a Connecticut news site that understands the usual media offerings just aren’t enough. Updated daily, CTNewsJunkie.com features original reporting on the state’s political, legal, and business universe, including a healthy focus on our struggling health care system.

Not mere observation. No half-cocked rants. And no regurgitated drivel already recorded in a million other outlets.

We’re talking about professionally gathered news you can’t find anywhere else. Whether it’s the latest dirt on a grandstanding senator or a tasty morsel about which bar owner can’t pay his legal bills — give us a week. We’ll be part of your habit.

Sample stories: “Fight to abolish the death penalty continues”; “[Governor] Rell releases DECD documents 16 days late”; “Budget victory tour starts at library”; “Union sings for single-payer”

Focus: Local news and issues blog covering 8 towns in Northeastern Connecticut  — “We’re as close as your mouse”; popular topics include school boards and local elections; heavy comment traffic on floating topics

Launched: October 2005

Employees/Writers: Reader comment driven – many regular, anonymous posters, some bylined submissions; anonymous/unnamed administrators post submissions; site includes a philosophy statement and posting guidelines

Funding: limited advertising

Site: woodstockctcafe.com

From WoodstockCT Cafe Philosophy 101 page:

[Commenter] John said at the Cafe in January 2007 ‘There are many who have contributed to the Cafe to share information with the rest of us, and to enlighten us. The collective intelligence of all of us is well documented in the archives, warts and all. I can say for myself that, as a contributor of some of the articles at the Cafe, I have learned a lot about the Town and how it operates. The ability to speak freely in this forum has liberated us from the political darkness of Woodstock. Our learning about the goings on in Woodstock has come from writing the articles, reading the articles of others, and reading the commentary of other contributors. Many times I have been dutifully corrected and I have always appreciated knowing when I have misstated the facts. This awakening would not have been possible without anonymity. This is because it is the argument stated explicitly in words, not the credibility of the author, that is being debated.’

Sample posts: “Vote ‘No’ at the June 9 referendum”; “We know where the DTC stands, does the RTC have the political courage to weigh in?”; “From the outside looking in on the ninth grade proposal”; “On the Woodstock Academy contract”