Vouchification

Make no mistake, today's introduction of the iPad was a big deal for a lot of reasons. But for news media it was nothing less than earthshaking. As we swim through reviews from the technology press it may be hard to see the forest for the trees - especially since the iPad is missing Flash, a camera, a hard keyboard, whatever-floats-your-boat, etc. - but the reason why the iPad is important to news media has less to do with hardware and more to do with software we have yet to see.

Before I go further, a disclaimer.

Starting a new publication - and then discovering that real people actually read it - is more fun than I ever anticipated. This past week's launch of the Center Square Ledger has been hard work, stressful but tremendously rewarding. More than anything it has made me remember my college newspaper days - as well as the pitfalls and stresses of those days.

The most important lessons of the first week:

I haven't posted for a while because I've been busy. At last I'm ready to speak.

Sometimes you just have to put your money where your mouth is.

I've been ranting for months that there are all kinds of niches available in news for those who want to exploit them, so I'm starting a new site, www.CenterSquareLedger.com, "Your definitive neighborhood guide to Lincoln Square, North Center and Ravenswood Manor."

We're two neighborhood guys: me and Patrick Boylan (you might know him as Lou Grant) who want to keep track of what's going on in the area and tell the many stories about what's happening next door and just down the street.

It's a hyperlocal news site limited to our neighborhoods. Want to know about the CB2 moving out? That house fire last night? What about events or restaurants in the area?  The Center Square Ledger is your place.

We don't want to compete with the Tribune. We are covering "small j" journalism - the stuff the big boys ignore but people in your 'hood care about deeply.

We don't want to compete with Everyblock. We think there's value to folks in the neighborhood chiming on the restaurants in the area and sharing their pictures of the area - and hopefully we'll get some serious comment discussions going on in the articles.

Some details on getting things together:

•  I coded the site myself starting with Wordpress. It's taken a lot of time, but it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.
• Our start-up costs are very, very low. We purchased the domains, we use MailChimp, and we'll print some cards to promote the site at El stops and stores, but for the most part, we're doing this volunteer until we start making money from advertising.
•  Yes, we will take advertising at very affordable rates. But for now we're not soliciting ads, we want to ramp up traffic first. (That doesn't mean that we won't place your ad though!)
• Yes, we are interested in strategic partnerships with other outlets.

So, come on over and check out the Ledger. And tell your friends!

I have been a Dave Eggers fan ever since reading, "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" in 2000. I identified with the early-20's angst in his autobiographical book, and I admired his decision to plow the earnings from his fantastically successful book into children's writing workshops in San Francisco and Chicago.

He also put some of his earnings into creating a literary journal, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern. With Egger's characteristic creativity, the journal changes format, topic and genre every quarter. In one quarter subscribers might receive a box of pamphlets, a la Thomas Paine, and a hardbound book of graphic novel comics in the next quarter.

When news came that McSweeney's Winter 2009 edition would be a one-time broadsheet Sunday-format newspaper, The San Francisco Panorama, I got excited. Eggers, who would be editor, had big ambitions. "We're kind of hoping the Panorama becomes a touchstone for folks," Eggers told Media Bistro, "Reminding them, 'Those ideas you had? They are good ideas, and this is how they might look like.'"

I wanted to be like Michael Scott.

The news of his sudden, unexplained death on Monday morning shocked me to the core. The idea that someone I admired so much is dead - either by his own hand or by someone else's - is very difficult for me to believe.

Michael called a great number of people "friends." Unlike most people in politics it was not because he was playing them along, it was because, I believe, that he genuinely saw some good in everyone and wanted to identify with that goodness, no matter who it was.

With that qualification in mind, I think Michael called me a friend. In my mind, he was more than that. He was a mentor. On occasion he took time to counsel me, give me guidance, provide personal wisdom and relate his own life to mine. I had some chances to watch him work and admire his style and talent. I wanted to emulate him as much as possible - although I lacked his essential coolness of character.

There are certain people you meet in life that become models for your behavior. In my clearer-headed moments I would ask, "How would Michael handle this?" Then I would piece things together and try and be like Michael Scott.

That's why I'm having such a hard time with his death. I suppose now and then it seemed like something darker lurked beneath his surface - maybe that's where his boundless empathy came from - but I just can't believe the darkness was bad enough that he felt like he had no options.

That was one of the things about Michael: "Patience," he would tell me. "You never know what's going to come later on down the road." Coolness. Calm. Patience. Empathy.

But none of that jibes with suicide.

Then maybe he did kill himself. The evidence released so far points to that possibility so I have to prepare myself for that. Denying the possibility of suicide feels like I'm holding on to him a bit more. It is a temptation: As if I am defending his honor.

But the Michael I knew would shrug his shoulders, look down at the ground and probably say, "Well, you never can know someone else's thoughts." He'd give words of comfort and suggest we get on with living.

Dammit. I'll really miss him.

In the past month three new "public interest" news gathering efforts have been launched and I have been told that as many as three more may be on their way. The three efforts already daylighted, Chicago Current, the Chicago News Cooperative and Chicago Public Radio's rebranding into "Chicago Public Media", all call for production of new "public interest" reporting to be distributed on multiple platforms. The other three still-gestating efforts also focus on the "public interest" news arena, each with a different business model.

And then many of Chicago's established news brands are attempting a retool:

• The Chicago Reader's new publisher, Jim Warren, has said that he wants to determine, "where the Reader is situated in Chicago" and then reinvent the paper.
• As part of an effort of all network owned-and-operated stations, NBC 5's new NBCChicago.com has led a big increase in new site visitors with new original content.
• In an effort to rise out of the basement, CBS 2 has been trying every play in the book, including bringing old news anchors back to the broadcast.
• WGN Radio is bringing Chicago Now bloggers to their broadcast.