Via Romenesko comes word of a new Seattle-based start-up that will be looking at the Pacific Northwest in the way that New West Network takes on the Rockies. In fact, New West is one of the models cited by David Brewster for Crosscut, which is coming next month.
From a Seattle Times article:
Brewster, who will be publisher, said Crosscut’s content will be a mix of original journalism, blogs, material derived from the mainstream media and other sources, and forums and other interactive features.
The site, at crosscut.com, will cover Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and parts of British Columbia.
New West Network is the successful Colorado-based online magazine that has emerged as a nice complement to legacy media throughout the Rockie Mountain states and that has done some great, original journalism along the way.
According to the Times’s article, Brewster has lined up several hundreds of thousands of dollars in start-up costs for the Crosscut from Seattle-area investors.
It will be interesting to see how a regional, cross-border online publication does in this part of the world. Vancouver has much in common with American neighbours such as Seattle and Portland, but this city is already fairly well served online, with The Tyee, group blogs such as Beyond Robson and Metroblogging Vancouver, a heavy local presence on Now Public, the occasionally busy Urban Vancouver and at least a couple of active placeblogs.
Presumably, Crosscut can make a splash by taking on the overarching stories that bind the area together. We’ll see.
TAGS: CROSSCUT, ONLINE JOURNALISM, SEATTLE, VANCOUVER
