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: ”Stirring up news and views”; daily online journal with original reporting and commentary about Greater Baltimore; it’s “about Baltimore’s neighborhoods, housing, politics, environment, real estate, downtown development, schools, transportation, crime, justice, media and whatever else seems worth covering. Books, the arts, culture, food/drink, history, interesting things to do or places to go, all may eventually be found at the Brew.”

Employees/Writers: Fern Shen is the founder, editor and publisher; “brew crew” of seven contributors; solicitation for collaborators; some aggregated story links to Baltimore Sun

Funding: advertising

Site: baltimorebrew.com

We aim to be essential and habit-forming, both caffeinated and hoppy. Our main ingredients? Freshness, for one thing. We serve up an explanation for that weird thing you saw on 83 this morning, pass along a tart and timely tip from the coolest parent on the playground, give you some mind-blowing back-story on the news of the day. Professionalism is another. Whether filing a short item or assembling a long investigative piece, we favor time-honored techniques: source-cultivating, document-reading, going places, talking to people and thinking about context and what’s fair.

Tagline: on Facebook fan page: “Baltimore Brew: Wake Up and Smell the City”

Sample stories: “Emergency summit on Baltimore journalism: Anger, grief and not much relief”; “Polluting Turners Station and Dundalk: A Maryland tradition”