With the recent announcement that the Ann Arbor News will
close its doors in July, Ypsilanti residents may wonder
where to look for local news. The answer is the Ypsilanti
Citizen.
The Ypsilanti Citizen is a mobile journalism initiative
started by Eastern Michigan University graduates Christine
Laughren and Andrew Cipolla, and EMU student Dan DuChene.
"The Ypsilanti community deserves a local paper that is
ran by a local business," said DuChene.
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AN OFFICE ANYWHERE: (above, from left)
Dan
DuChene, Andrew Cipolla and Christine Laughren
file their stories for the Ypsilanti Citizen
from the
Corner Brewery. The three had worked together
at
the Eastern Echo and noticed a gap in reporting of
Ypsilanti news. The three began the Ypsilanti Citizen,
an online news site for Ypsilanti news.
|
The idea for the Citizen came when Laughren, Cipolla and
DuChene worked together at the Eastern Echo and noticed
a gap in reporting in Ypsilanti. The amount of local news
coverage was significantly decreased when the Ann Arbor
News closed its Ypsilanti bureau November 2008. DuChene
came up with the idea for an online only news source for
Ypsilanti.
"Online publishing is a journalist's dream because you
don't have to wait to go to press," said DuChene.
Laughren and DuChene also had previously worked for print
publications in Ludington and Ypsilanti. It was during
that time that they became disillusioned with the future
of print and saw potential in using the Internet as a means
for news delivery.
The Citizen employs a new kind of journalism — mobile
journalism — to bring news to the Ypsilanti
community. The reporters use everything from shooting video
to recording news brief podcasts to streaming video to
disseminate local news to the community.
"To me, mobile journalism is kind of carrying your office
around with you. It's being on the beat, on the street,
all the time," said Laughren.
The Citizen doesn't have an office or a set publishing
schedule. Stories are updated on to the Web site at all
hours of the day. The staff includes Laughren, Cipolla,
DuChene and a few volunteer writers. Laughren and DuChene
are the primary reporters while Cipolla focuses on advertising.
The Citizen operates under ad-supported revenue as a way
to offer the news to the Ypsilanti community at no cost.
The Citizen covers government, education, health, sports,
weather, entertainment and other beats.
"Because we use the Internet and its evolving tools for
both the production and the distribution of news, we are
able to deliver a more precise picture of our community," said
Laughren. "In addition to much needed local reporting,
we hope to engage Ypsilantians and help them gather, discuss
and interact with each other."
One way the Citizen helps community members connect is
with a detailed calendar. The calendar covers news and
events in the City of Ypsilanti, Ypsilanti Township, Superior
Township and surrounding areas. The calendar includes when
and where the activity is, as well as a brief description
and contact information.
"It's an amazing asset for the community. I think people
are really starting to rely on it," said Laughren.
Since the Citizen's launch in November, the paper has
developed a regular following, said Laughren. Using Google
Analytics, DuChene said they know who is using the site,
where people are coming from and what they are looking
at. As of May 11, the Citizen has had 65,000 unique views
since its November 2, 2008 launch and DuChene said the
traffic continues to increase.
"A lot of people are discovering the Ypsi Citi through
social media," said DuChene.
DuChene said the reporters interact with readers on social
networking tools such as Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.
These social networking tools allow the Citizen to keep
people up-to-date with what they are covering and when
stories are being posted.
In a new development last week, the Eastern Echo, EMU's
student newspaper, began subscribing to the Ypsilanti Citizen
so that it can print stories of local interest created
by Citizen reporters.
"They (Echo) pay for it like a wire service," DuChene
said.
To find out more about the Ypsilanti Citizen, visit www.ypsiciti.com or e-mail editor@ypsiciti.com.
