WHYY rolls out NewsWorks

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    NewsWorks.org has gone live at WHYY, the public radio and TV station in Philadelphia.

    According to a press release, 18   contributors covering news and encouraging dialogue from southeastern Pennsylvania to south Jersey and all of Delaware. It  states  the site will cover  regional issues such as business and education, government and politics, health and science and arts and culture.  It will focus on neighborhood news in Northwest Philadelphia in an experimental pilot project for public media that will offer “hyperlocal content” from neighborhoods that usually does not make its way into mainstream sites.

    “NewsWorks.org is a major expansion of WHYY’s news and information service that builds on the trusted reporting and in-depth discussions of regional news we now offer,” said Bill Marrazzo, WHYY president and CEO. “As consumers increasingly turn to the web for news, we are pleased to develop NewsWorks.org with a set of features unique to public media that will be a driver for WHYY’s growth as a media outlet. WHYY’s radio audience among listeners in the 25–34 age demographic has increased markedly in recent years, and this is an audience with a strong appetite for online news.”

    WHYY said it would focus on the web,  after dropping the Delaware Tonight television newscast and substituted with First, a weekly news show.  Former staffers have set up a Newark-based start-up organization, DelawareFirst (DFN)  that’s focusing on public issues in the First State via the web. DFN also sponsored Senate and House debates.

    NewsWorks.org  features blogs  with a distinctive Philadelphia flavor from   Dave Davies, Dick Polman, Chris Satullo and Jo Ann Allen. With the exception of Allen, all are former columnists with the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News. NewsWorks.org also offers  “The Feed,” an interactive news blog continuously updated by WHYY news staff that welcomes content from the public, and “Sixth Square,” a moderated discussion forum where visitors can seek answers to local mysteries (“Sleuth”) and even attempt to sum up the news or trends in six or fewer words (“Sixes”). On “Sixth Square,” visitors can discuss topics in ” civil, knowledgeable posts” (“Junto”) and share kind words about people who have done good deeds (“Props”).

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    Other offerings listed  include the handy “Civic Atlas,” an interactive mapping tool designed to help visitors plan trips to more than 10,000 regional civic assets such as day cares and schools. The playful “Stuff We Like” presents a listing of what’s interesting on the Web.

    A highlight of NewsWorks.org is that it engages its audience, inviting the community to offer viewpoints, story tips, photos and videos, said Chris Satullo, WHYY executive director of News and Civic Dialogue and former columnist and editor of the editorial page at The Philadelphia Inquirer. Registered users earn points for almost every action they complete on the site from reading, rating and commenting on stories to submitting content. Each completed action earns users Ben Bucks, and as they earn more Ben Bucks, they move up Ben’s Ladder, whose rungs are named after the stages of Ben Franklin’s life. At each progressive rung, users gain more opportunities to take roles leading participatory areas on NewsWorks.org.

    Some northwest Philadelphia residents will  get in on the participatory act on NewsWorks.org even more — they get “on stage” as official community correspondents, filing photos and a rundown on news and events in each of the neighborhoods. Their contributions are overseen by WHYY community editors Patrick Cobbs, Megan Pinto and Alan Tu. The “hyperlocal” focus on Northwest Philadelphia is funded by a Corporation for Public Broadcasting grant to test the feasibility of building a national model for public media providers.

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