Launch of Triblocal Empowers Citizens to Write About Their Communities

CHICAGO, April 19 /PRNewswire/ -- The Chicago Tribune today announced the introduction of Triblocal, a local community publishing service in two portions of Chicago's western and southwestern suburbs. Beginning today on triblocal.com, community contributors have the ability to post stories, photos and events about their hometowns and comment on postings from other contributors.

Content and photos from the site will be used to develop a print publication that will debut later this year and be distributed with the Chicago Tribune in those communities. Triblocal editorial staff will provide enhanced coverage of these communities both online and in print. Triblocal is managed by Chicagoland Publishing Company, a subsidiary of Chicago Tribune Company.

"We're constantly working to better serve the changing needs of our readers and their communities," said Owen Youngman, senior vice president/strategy and development of Chicago Tribune Company. "Triblocal is designed to meet the needs of a growing population who want to share news and information that's truly relevant to their lives, while also delivering a vital, engaged audience to advertisers."

Triblocal.com will initially cover Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles, Elburn, Maple Park, Orland Hills, Tinley Park and Homer Glen. In addition to user-generated content, the site will provide daily news coverage of these communities gathered from news sources by Topix.com and information about local resources including schools, government offices and local services. A comprehensive local event calendar will be a primary feature of the site. A team of Triblocal editors led by Kyle Leonard, a veteran community journalist, will keep in close contact with key community contributors, report on news important to each community, and choose contributor stories to highlight on the site and in the print product.

"We're eager to begin a dialogue with members of these communities and to discover what news and information is important in their daily lives," said Leonard. "Contributors living in these communities will be the driving force shaping Triblocal.com."

The Triblocal online portal is designed to enable both users and advertisers to interact easily with the Web site, and to route visitors directly to relevant online content. By creating dialogue around topics of interests to each community, and putting them in the context of directly related information from elsewhere on the Web, Triblocal.com will create a comprehensive and engaging look at each community it covers. Content indexed by Topix.com figures prominently in the site's completeness and relevance.

To become a contributor, users will complete a simple, free registration process before posting their first story, photo or comment. Anyone can visit triblocal.com for more information and to search for stories and events.

Triblocal was created using a platform developed by Advanced Technical Solutions (ATS), based in Acton, Mass. ATS specializes in advertising, circulation, editorial, and technical outsourcing solutions for the publishing industry. For more information, visit http://www.atsusa.com/.

About Chicago Tribune Company

Chicago Tribune Company publishes the Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper with daily readership of about 1.8 million and about 2.6 million on Sunday. The company also operates related print and interactive media serving Chicagoland, including chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune is the founding publication of Tribune Company , one of the country's leading media companies, operating businesses in broadcasting, publishing and on the Internet. Chicagoland Publishing Company, Oak Brook, Illinois, is a subsidiary of Chicago Tribune Company responsible for its special-interest publications, including Chicago magazine and Chicago Home.