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Menagerie of local sites compete for space at online news trough

Three out of four Chicagoans get online news from Tribune or Sun-Times

9-Aug-10 – While online news sites may be popular sources of Chicago news, a new study shows that when people go online for local news, 75 percent go to three sites owned by either the Chicago Tribune or Chicago Sun-Times. That leaves more than 146 sites competing for the remaining 25 percent market share.

According to the second annual report by Community Media Workshop, of an estimated eight million people who get their news online each month, six million go to chicagotribune.com, suntimes.com, or chicagonow.com. Owned by the Tribune, chicagonow.com contains the website for RedEye, a free daily newspaper for young adults, and an online community of bloggers.

The report was commissioned by the Knight Foundation, a non-profit group dedicated to promoting journalism, and The Chicago Community Trust, which according to its web site awarded $100 million in 2008 to not-for-profit organizations.

Though clearly falling short of being a comprehensive list, Community Media Workshop has attempted to compile a directory of websites offering local news. These sites, according to CMW, break down almost evenly between “blogs” – which generally offer commentary on a particular subject – and niche news sites. Most of the news sites provide original content with only about seven sites aggregating content from other sites.

Thom Clark

And many sites identified by CMW as news sites do not fit the traditional concept of what “news” is. When interviewed about this in June 2009, CMW president Thom Clark said news is “different things to different people.”

Thom Clark (left) is also a part-time professor of journalism at Columbia College in Chicago and a winner of the 2009 Studs Terkel Community Media Award.

Clark said the definition of news has not so much changed but broadened, and can include entertainment news and gossip. Indeed, some choices in his list of “online news sites” defy the traditional understanding of news…

  • Chicago Hearts Trivia, which describes itself as “fun trivia questions and quizzes daily” and reviews of “local Chicago bars that run pub trivia nights in Chicago.”

  • Deep Dish, “groovy thoughts of a gay writer on pop culture and all things fabulous.”

  • Hello Beautiful, described by its author as “something beautiful every day.”

  • Outside the Girl Box, about “self-esteem and empowerment for pre-teen girls.”

  • That’s Awesome, which is about, according to CMW, “anything and everything that is awesome.”

For the second year, Marina City Online was not included in the list, nor were the sites of Marina City residents Lynn Becker, who writes about architecture, and Iker Gil, who covers urban issues. Clark did not know why MCO was omitted in this year’s list, nor did he know last year why the news and information site did not make the 2009 list.

Serving about 6,700 visitors per month, MCO provides almost daily coverage of news at the 1,400-resident community of Marina City and the River North neighborhood of downtown Chicago. A summary of headlines and other new content is sent by email every week to more than 500 people, including Clark.

Gone this year is an attempt to rank local news and information sites. Despite being the top-ranked site in 2009, Chi-Town Daily News folded weeks after the CMW report was published.