Location: Jersey City, New Jersey

Focus: “The JCI” is a “grassroots” community news site; information categories include news, arts, politics, three contributor blogs, cultural calendar. Staff publishes a magazine, NEW, twice a year. One of the blogs, Mamarama, about a single mom, is by a local resident with a corresponding public access television program.

Started: 2008

Staff: Jon Whiten and Shane Smith are co-publishers, according to site masthead. Whiten is the editor. Other staff are a sales manager, associate editor, writer, photographer, and 10 regular contributors.

Business: nonprofit; advertising and donation-supported

Site: jerseycityindependent.com

From About:

The Jersey City Independent is the alternative news and culture source for Jersey City. JCI provides quality journalism to a city that desperately needs it, covering hard news, community news, politics and culture, with the ultimate goal of a better-informed citizenry, more accountable government and increased civic participation. The Independent also uses emerging technologies to shine a light on local government and give citizens greater access to public information that government entities are often reluctant to publish.

Sample stories: “Residents and Officials Come Out in Force Against Proposed Gas Pipeline,”; Halfway through 2010: Mixed News on Jersey City Foreclosure”; “Drought Watch Issued for Hudson County”; “Housing Authority Holding Public Hearing on ‘One-Strike’ Eviction Rule Next Week”; “For Farmers Market Week, New Jersey’s Agriculture Secretary Challenges Residents to Eat Locally”;