What role for grassroots, ethcni, community and neighborhood media in the news ecology

We discussed the work done at the Daily Planet in Minneapolis, http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/, and learned how this web site has a unique combination of content from various grassroots, ethnc and community media in the Minneapolis area.

The project runs articles with the permission of these publications and its founder said that the publications are pleased to have more people read their news articles.

The discussion also included talk of the challenge of making money or even sustaining such endeavors. We explored the adverstising model, the non-profit model and other options.

The Web site receives about 76,000 unique visitors a month. Part of the mission of the site is to train and work with citizen journalists. The Web site also works in partnership with community education.