Gordon Joseloff may be the Michael Bloomberg of citizen journalism.
Bloomberg, of course, is the mayor of New York City, and the founder of the Bloomberg communications empire. Joseloff is the founder of much-smaller WestportNow,
a pioneering citizen-journalism website covering the upscale
Connecticut city of Westport — and, as of November, he’s the
elected first selectman (mayor) of Westport.
So, on a less grand scale, Joseloff has been following in Bloomberg’s
footsteps by distancing himself from the “citJ” site he created —
getting rid of his editorial duties and handing it over to others, but
retaining an ownership and publishing role.
WestportNow is basically a community blog that is driven by
contributions from local citizens. Joseloff, a retired journalist who
had an illustrious career with CBS News and United Press International,
built the site while not drawing a salary, and he did a good job of
convincing community members to participate — especially with
photographs, for which the site is known.
Because Westport does not have a daily newspaper, Joseloff’s site
serves as a replacement of sorts — which is why he needs the distance
now that he’s making news instead of covering it. He’s encouraged
enough by the success that the site has seen — local advertisers are
coming across the transom without any real sales effort to date —
that plans are to eventually expand to other communities in the region
and set up similar operations. Joseloff is hoping to build a Backfence.com-like network of sites covering his region.
(Coincidentally, Backfence co-founder Mark Potts is from Westport. Joseloff says he ran into his mother in town the other day. Westport: a citizen-journalism pioneer town.)
CORRECTION: Joseloff took office as first selectman (mayor) of Westport in November, not last summer as originally was stated in this item.
