While many journalists, current and former bemoan the fall of newspapers, some unemployed journalists are responding by starting their own news sites.

The Arizona Guardian comes from four laid-off East Valley Tribune workers, three writers and an editor and covers the happenings at the Arizona Legislature. The site is free for now, but plans to offer a subscription version in the future.
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Nick Martin, also previously with the East Valley Tribune has started Heat City, aimed at covering stories that the major local media outlets are not covering. Sadly though it comes with an attack on the blogosphere, with Martin saying that the “you’ll get real reporting on HEAT CITY without punditry. It’s rare on the web to get that kind of quality from independent bloggers.” Which is an odd thing to say, given that the front page is full of posts that conclude with calls that can only really be judged as punditry.

Even with the clinging to the holier than though attitude of journalists vs bloggers, it’s great to see journalists taking the initiative, and we wish both publications well.

(via The Blogging Journalist)

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