The Twin Cities Daily Planet formally launched their site, www.tcdailyplanet.info, on May 1.
The Twin Cities Daily Planet could get a major boost in visibility as it attempts to work out a partnership with US Internet, one of two finalists in the bidding to operate the Minneapolis WiFi Project, which would make wireless Internet access available throughout the city.
The Daily Planet seeks to become the local content provider for the company’s Internet portal, a partnership that would place the Daily Planet and its more than 30 partnering local media publications prominently in the public eye.
“It’s too early to predict whether US Internet will choose us, but we seem to be the leading candidate,” said project leader Jeremy Iggers. “If we are selected, that would greatly increase our visibility, and if US Internet is selected as the winning bidder for the city-wide project, that would give us a very significant readership base.”
After a soft launch in September 2005, the Twin Cities Daily Planet plans to formally launch their site, www.tcdailyplanet.info, in early March with new original content as well as articles from the newswire’s media partners.
To push for new content, board member Doug McGill, a former New York Times reporter and Bloomberg bureau chief, has been conducting citizen journalism training classes in cooperation with the Resource Center of the Americas, one of the Daily Planet’s media partners.
The Daily Planet has published several original articles by writers who have participated in these classes, and project leader Jeremy Iggers said he anticipates many more in the months to come.
The newswire also publishes stories from over 30 neighborhood and community media partners, paying special attention to diverse ethnic publications with little or no Web presence.
“Most of our content currently is reprinted from those publications,” Iggers said, “but we are increasing the amount of original content.”
To prepare for the formal launch, managing editor Craig Cox recruited 15 volunteer section editors and is encouraging them to expand the content in the site’s 19 sections. Cox also added several new media partners, including the African News Journal and Hmong Today.
The Daily Planet has had trouble attaining further grant funding, having applied for grants from the Stern Foundation, which immediately replied that it was going out of existence, and the Glaser Progress Foundation, which turned the proposal down.
However, the Daily Planet has grant applications pending with several other foundations and is approaching several individual donors. So far, the newswire has received three donations in the range of $500 to $2,000 from two board members and a board member’s spouse.
Iggers said he hopes to launch a membership drive in the spring and also would like to sell advertising and underwriting to help bring in more funds.
While money has been a concern for Iggers, he said the project is headed in a promising direction. “I am most pleased with the quality of the site and with the enthusiasm that the Daily Planet has generated,” he said. “People ‘get it.’”
