Valley PR Blog

The Watch Tree launches in Scottsdale

By Charlotte Shaff on June 5th, 2009 In Social Media

Scottsdale-based editor and now publisher Liz Smith is proud to announce the launch of www.thewatchtree.com, a hyperlocal community news effort for the suburb of Scottsdale that merges professional journalism, community contributions and civic-minded interchange.

Developed through the Cronkite School’s Advanced Digital Media Entrepreneurship lab and Startup Weekend, the project aims to provide quality coverage of important news and issues impacting Scottsdale and the surrounding areas, shine a light on people making a difference in the community, and provide a venue for civic discourse and exchange at the neighborhood level.

“As newspapers downsize, or in Scottsdale’s case, depart the market altogether, a real gap in coverage of our community emerges–we know less and less about what’s going on,” says Smith. “I wanted to provide a meaningful place not only for the community to stay informed, but also for it to congregate and improve communication from a civic standpoint.”

The site welcomes the following contributions:

• News story tips & leads on people making a difference in the community (These will be checked out and if viable, reported on by professional reporters.)
• Community news and resident accomplishments Are you newly engaged? Was your son just accepted into Stanford? Did your class win an honor in a national science competition? Did one of your relatives recently pass away, and you’d like to commemorate them with an obituary? Did your community or nonprofit organization win an award? Are you chairing a community or cultural event you’d like people to know about? Let us know about it, and we’ll post the news. E-mail editor@thewatchtree.com. (Note: such submissions will be edited and vetted for appropriateness.)
•Civic-minded notices and interchange Post your need for volunteers for your nonprofit or civic organization, or your availability to carpool with others in your neighborhood. Discuss and debate issues of importance to you in the community forums we’ve set up.

Smith is careful to say that she does not consider this citizen journalism per se, though it does contain components of that model. “This is the merger of professional journalism, citizen contributions, and community engagement in the appropriate ratios to revive old-fashioned community journalism in today’s modern media landscape,” says Smith.

For more information, contact Smith by email.

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