The Corner Report, a web site covering towns in Northwest Connecticut, brings the online journalism revolution to the Berkshires.
Reporter Gale Courey Toensing launched The Corner Report January 1. For 11 years she had covered Connecticut’s Northwest Corner for the Waterbury Republican-American until parting ways with the paper last year. She’s currently a correspondent for Indian Country and has contributed to ctnewsjunkie.com. Daily newspapers provide only spotty coverage of towns like Salisbury, Kent, Falls Village and Cornwall, Toensing said. The WAR and Torrington Register-Citizen are the main dailies, and while the independently owned Lakeville Journal covers the area, it is a weekly. Toensing hopes to provide consistent daily coverage.“I have an approach to local reporting that’s different than what’s happening in the local newspapers,” she said. The online journalism revolution- also known as ‘hyperlocal’ or ‘stand-alone’ journalism- is spreading rapidly across the country. Sites like Toensing’s (or newhavenindependent.org, hamdendailynews.com, westportnow.com, and ctnewsjunkie.com) usually feature one journalist using the Internet and blog software to deliver high quality reporting. Usually, the content is commentary-free.Already, Toensing has published stories on her site about the Region 1 Board of Education, along with the ongoing saga of the Schaghticoke Tribe in Kent. She will actively seek stories from community members, citing high school sports as one subject that readers care deeply about but isn’t covered as extensively as it could be. She hopes to sell ads, and already has one.