Focus: News and information about Sacramento, California’s capitol city. Information categories include Front Page, Business, Culture, Politics, Sports, and Sunday Best.

Started :2008

Staff: co-founded by Geoff Samek, and Ben Ilfeld, who is the chief operating officer; six other employees include an editor in chief, a managing editor, three staff reporters, and a sales manager.

Business: Castle Press LLC, for-profit, advertising supported; heading toward profitability

From About Us:

The Sacramento Press will be the most comprehensive, local news source and information center for the Sacramento Metropolitan Area.

We are a strictly online newspaper. Our writers are primarily volunteer Community Contributors.

We combined the best tools on the web and built an outstanding platform from scratch. This platform enables people to tell stories about their neighborhoods and have thoughtful conversations about these stories. Then our editors place the best content on the front page and section pages to highlight great work.

[...]
We are a for profit business, but we consider ourselves a public trust. The original concept of the corporation was a balance between allowing people to join together for a common goal with some profit potential and demanding that the corporation provide a public service to the nation. In our case, we will provide valuable services to the neighborhoods of Sacramento while showing that this kind of community journalism can be profitable.

Sample stories: “Mayor’s Team Chooses K Street Developers”, “Farm stand coming to McKinley Park”, “Beer Pong champs hail from Sac”, “Second Saturday=Lots to do”, “Utilities measure sparks debate”

Here’s an interview with Geoff Samek by Bill Densmore, at the Journalism That Matters un-conference in Detroit in June 2010 (I also attended).

Focus: regional online news magazine about Rocky Mountain news, issues, politics, culture; coverage area includes Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, other Western interior locations; community blogs, news roundups from national outlets, original and contributed content

Started: 2005

Staff: about 20, including publisher, editor-in-chief, contributing writers; news partners with other outlets such as DailyYonder, Crosscut, Flathead Beacon

Funding: advertising, conferences; business is New West Publishing LLC

Site: newwest.net

From About Us:

New West.Net is a nationally-award-winning, online network covering and connecting the fastest-growing region in the country with a refreshing mix of daily news, original reportage, commentary, photography, video, music and conversation. NewWest.Net includes a regional Front Page, and local sites in eight communities around the region…

Sample posts: “Western pols quick to denounce passage of health care bill”; “Conservation icon Stewart Udall dies”; “In the mountains, is modern design the right style?”; “Strategy offers hope in beetle battle”

Focus: “Community News. Evolved.”; neighborhood news for Mt. Greenwood, Beverly and Morgan Park; news, opinion, calendar, forums, chat rooms

Started: March 2007

Staff: Michael Fielding, editor, journalism degree and background; Steve Delmont, publisher, formerly in print publishing; solicitation for contributed content and blogs

Funding: advertising; site is associated with Romeii LLC, of Wisconsin

Site: southwestobserver.com

From About:

The Observer is a new community newspaper without the paper. Every day we’ll post news items pertinent to you and your community.And every day we’ll ask you to participate. Got a gripe? Air it in the forums. Planning a block party? Start a blog and keep everyone up to date. Register with us, and you can comment on the stories we post, or you can comment on the posts of your neighbors.

Sample stories: “Keller to stay put, Mt. Greenwood school to expand”; “Community alert for attempted kidnapping”; “Obama’s bookstore book signing this Saturday”; “Keller meeting for parents only”

Focus: local news and information around Burien, community news; information categories include arts, entertainment, features stories, crime, events, headlines, humor, jobs, opinion, life

Started: 2008

Staff: Scott Shaefer is founder, publisher, editor; plus 8 staff, including writer/marketing person, two reporters, photographer, intern

Funding: LLC business LOLDudez.com, a network of  five other local blogs; heavy local advertising, business promotion

Site: b-townblog.com

From About:

We love Burien. And we’re not ashamed to say it.

That’s because we live here.

We work here.

We shop here.

The B-Town (Burien) Blog is your only daily-updated, totally independent, truly-local online news source for all things Burien-related…

Sample posts: “Hit & Run Victim Jeff Kearney Released From Rehab, Now Back Home”; “B-Town Undercover: A Burienite Makes Friends At The Winter Olympics”; “Councilmember Refutes Seattle Times Columnist Over White Center Annexation”; “Wine & Food Line-Ups Announced For Poverty Bay Wine Festival”

Focus: “Local news with an edge”; information and news categories include Local Ink, The Dirt, At Large, School Yard, Sirens, Entertainment, Forums

Started: 2007

Staff: former journalists, accepts citizen journalism contributions, solicitations for contributors around Maryland

Funding: business is an LLC model (Daggerpress LLC), advertising sales

Site: daggerpress.com

From About:

Dagger: The double-edged blade.

What began as an experiment, a test case for what might happen when we distill years of conversation into published material, has turned into something real. We have become a living, breathing, kicking, screaming community of readers and writers no longer content to simply watch as the world turns.

We publish daily and breaking news, in-depth features, investigative reporting, opinion, style, substance and informal correspondence. It is our hope not to fire missives from the distance, but to get up close to each subject; so close that we might twist a blade in its side.

We are a collective of former and current journalists, editors, reporters, photographers, artists, students, freelancers, professionals, entertainers, activists, rebels, parents and agitators living in and around Baltimore. We are citizens, communities, neighborhoods, organizations, movements, ideas and events. We are you.

We are The Dagger and you can’t mess with us.

The Dagger is…

An interactive, online news magazine providing independent reporting, cultural commentary and (seldom) humorous social observations. Our original content is strengthened and supplemented by the open involvement and direct participation of our readers. Together, reader and writer, supporter and detractor, come together to form a unique online community.

The Dagger is not affiliated with any corporation, publishing company, political party, professional sports team, clique or trade association although many of our members and readers are. We do not charge for access to our content and are supported by loose change, good intentions and occasional advertising revenues.

Sample stories: “County to Offer Retirement Buyout Offers” breaking news; “Harford Board of Ed Votes 6-1 to Approve 2% Salary Cuts for All HCPS Employees”; “Harford Schedules Second Public Budget Hearing for Jan. 25 in Edgewood”; “First Bills of Session Address Noise Enforcement, Liquor Board Membership, AG Tax Breaks, and Emergency Responder Safety”

Focus: “context aggregation” and reporting of regional news; info categories include news, politics, arts, features, entertainment, food, business, offbeat, events calendar, newspaper front pages

Started: June 2008

Staff: launched by Ken Hawkins; 3 staff writers, about 20 contributors

Funding: Company is run by Giant Hawk LLC, founded by Mr. Hawkins and Christopher Giganti; first round of venture capital funding came in October 2009 from Palmetto Investments & Exchange Group; advertising accepted

Site: thedigitel.com

From About

There’s plenty of great Charleston content out there, but it’s ever harder to find — Charleston’s TheDigitel is the only place to get linked to the best Charleston content and events.

…

As an unconventional local media portal, we often receive inquires as to just what we — and our aims — are. In a nutshell our aim is: To not re-report, but to act as concierge, connecting folks to the best in local coverage.

There’s plenty of great local content out on the Web, but it’s coming from an ever increasing number of content publishers — TheDigitel is the only place to get linked to the best Charleston content and events.

Our five points

• Focus on connecting people to the best, most interesting stories about the region, offer a minimum of context, and excerpt a minimum amount, and do so only when absolutley necessary. We do it to be fair to content creators and fair to readers, who shouldn’t have to read something twice.
• Offer helpful context, analysis, and background as we know it. This is done in large part by avoiding news voice.
• Offer links to related stories and sources, and offer connections to added resources like maps, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, Wikipedia, and so on.
• Offer a clean, easy-to-use design that acts as a transparent information access tool.
• Be an open and transparent community portal with an ecosystem that allows for community members to tell what they know.

Sample Stories: links to “Bishop England senior takes on Alex Trebek” a story by local print news Post and Courier; “Andre Bauer running for governor”; “It’s official! Boeing coming to North Charleston” a round-up of articles on the matter linking to Post and Courier and the Seattle Times.

Media Mention: MediaShift: “TheDigitel.com Brings Human Element to News Aggregation” article

Focus: original reporting, blogging on progressive issues in state and metro politics; issues include fair taxation, health care, environment, election reform; site categories include “blogs” “columns” and “features”; multi-media components; blogroll/links to legacy media sites serving Chicago and state, national news sites, blogs (i.e. Huffington Post)

Started: March 2008

Staff: paid, full-time staff (number not available); accepts occasional freelance contributions

Funding: solely sponsored by SEIU Illinois, an LLC; looking for other progressive group sponsorship

Site: progressillinois.com

From About

On a daily basis, our full-time writing staff narrates the news from across the state. Our frequent blog posts provide readers with relevant context and remind them what is at stake in the ongoing political and policy debates. But rather than simply follow the news cycle, Progress Illinois also contributes original reporting and research in the form of feature articles that explore local issues and policy debates. Furthermore, by regularly publishing guest columns we promote a wide range of progressive voices – from members of Congress to local activists.

Stories: “A State-based Public Option?”; “Currie, Mendoza, And Delgado Sign Petition In Support Of Public Option”; “On the United Deal, Don’t Forget that other $15 million”