New online news site to cover Orange County

[Gladiator]

New online news site to cover Orange County - OC Business News - OCRegister.com

New online news site to cover Orange County

September 14th, 2009, 2:40 pm · posted by Peggy Lowe

A group of Orange County Democratic and liberal leaders will soon launch a non-profit online news site dedicated to “real-time investigative coverage” in three languages.

Spearheaded by former state Sen. Joe Dunn, a Democrat from central Orange County, the site will be called “Voice of OC,” and will be modeled on “Voice of San Diego,” a daily news site lauded as an innovative approach to local coverage. The Orange County site, to be launched by the end of the year, will be funded with a $140,000 start-up grant from the Orange County Employees Association, the county’s largest union. Organizers will also seek donations, foundation money and PBS-style memberships, according to a press release issued today.

Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the School of Law at UCI, will serve on the board, which will be chaired by Dunn and rounded out with veteran reporters, former lawmakers and attorneys. Norberto Santana Jr., a former investigative reporter from The Orange County Register, will be executive editor of the news operation.

A press conference is scheduled for Tuesday. The press release described the site as “an independent non-profit online news operation focused on giving residents real-time investigative coverage of the institutions and power brokers that impact their daily lives.”

Nick Berardino, OCEA general manager, said his group gave start-up funds because many county residents believe there was a void in local coverage.

“Members of the community got together and said ‘We need to have a news outlet that is community-controlled and free from corporate interest and control’,” Berardino said

Dunn noted in the press release that the shrinkage of local newspapers — both the Times and Register are in bankruptcy proceedings — has created less coverage of government agencies and ethnic communites.

”So we here in Orange County are standing up as a community and are committing ourselves to secure the resources that ensures this important civic work– investigative journalism –stays alive at the local level on a long-term basis,” Dunn said.

The board will also include: Dan Morain and Henry Weinstein, formerly Times reporters; former state Sen. Marta Escutia; and attorneys Jess Araujo, Tom Girardo and James Brosnahan.

The site will be published in English, Spanish and Vietnamese.

In addition to the San Diego site, the Voice of OC will join several other non-profit interests dedicated to investigative or local journalism, including California Watch, ProPublica, and MinnPost.

[Gladiator]

http://www.ocregister.com/newsimages...iceRelease.pdf

Press Announcement

Orange County establishes investigative news non-profit

For more information, contact:
Sen. Joe Dunn, board chairman, 916-955-3400, joedunn@tmo.blackberry.net
Norberto Santana Jr., editor, 949-374-0402, voiceofoc@gmail.com
Dan Morain, board member, 916-201-6281, dmorain@caoc.org

Former California State Senator Joe Dunn has assembled some of the best legal and
journalistic minds in the region to launch, Voice of OC, an on-line non-profit news outlet
dedicated to investigative journalism at the local level.
A formal press conference announcing the formation of the non-profit newsroom is
scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 10 a.m. at the Law Offices of DiMarco, Araujo &
Montevideo, 1324 N. Broadway, Santa Ana, CA (714) 835-6990.
“A vibrant press is crucial to democracy,” said Dunn. “And in the current economic
environment, weʼve seen too many newspapers shrinking, too many experienced
reporters leaving the industry. The result is troubling: watchdog coverage and
investigative efforts have dwindled. So we here in Orange County are standing up as a
community, and are committing ourselves to secure the resources that ensures this
important civic work - investigative journalism - stays alive at the local level on a long
term basis.”
With corporate-owned newsrooms being drastically downsized, communities across
America have fewer beat reporters, and even fewer investigative teams, keeping watch
over government agencies.
Nowhere is the void in accountability felt as starkly as Orange County.
Orange County - with 34 cities and a host of countywide mega agencies - has become
vastly under-served.
Both the Los Angles Times and Orange County Register are in bankruptcy proceedings.
And no large broadcast outlet operates in Orange County. Even radio news coverage
has dwindled with one station - KFWB - replacing all news with an all-talk format.
The county also is in dire need for news coverage that reaches into ethnic communities.
Orange County boasts one of the nationʼs most diverse populations - with one third of
residents identifying themselves as Latino and the largest concentration of Vietnamese
residents outside Vietnam.
Establishing a local investigative non-profit news organization helps ensure government
accountability for communities in a way that canʼt be downsized or de-emphasized by a
corporate entity affected by economic downturns.
Acknowledging the challenges facing any publication in this new era, Dunn said he
placed special emphasis on recruiting the right mix of people for the Voice of OC board
of directors. The board is extremely diverse and committed to investigative journalism
as well as fundraising and providing assistance with public access lawsuits.
Dunn brings a wealth of investigative experience and zeal from his legislative efforts to
probe Enron, the National Guard spying scandal and illegal deportations. Two
experienced reporters - Dan Morain and Henry Weinstein - offer key support on the
journalistic side. Between them, they spent the better part of three decades covering
major stories for the Los Angeles Times. Two Mexico experts - former State Senator
Marta Escutia and Santa Ana attorney Jess Araujo have direct in-country experience
and contacts. Voice of OC also features the board participation of Erwin Chemerinsky,
one of the nationʼs foremost constitutional scholars, who is currently the dean of the
University of California, Irvine Law School. Finally, the board also features the
participation of some of the nationʼs top attorneys with Tom Girardi and James
Brosnahan.
The board of directors at Voice of OC also have contracted the services of Norberto
Santana Jr., an award-winning investigative reporter with 20 years of experience at
major daily newspapers, to become executive editor for the news operation.
Since 2004, Santana has been a lead investigative reporter for the Orange County
Register and has spent the last decade covering local governments across Southern
California and the Mexican border. Santana also brings border investigative experience
as an academic, with a Masters in Latin American Studies and experience as an
elections analyst with the National Endowment for Democracy.
Santana, a Southern California native, also has direct experience on Internet news
start-ups. He was a key leader in the establishment of one of the first Internet news
services on Cuba, helping to create CubaNet.org for dissident writers inside the island.
Established in 1995, the news site still operates today and is one of the largest grant
recipients for U.S. AID programs and other endowment grants on Cuba.
Voice of OC will strive to provide real-time daily watchdog coverage of public agencies
throughout the county as well as more in depth investigations that will be made
available to major newspapers through a syndication service. Voice of OC coverage will
be made available in three different languages: English, Spanish and Vietnamese.
Voice of OC is currently recruiting additional board members and reporting staff. The
website is expected to go live by the end of the year.

[protectmine]

good info thanks! this could be a good media outlet for CCW stuff