Chicago Public Media Launches Community Platform

Chicago Public Media, the parent nonprofit organization of WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times, is launching a new venture called chicago.com. This initiative, undertaken in collaboration with New_Public, a nonprofit focused on reimagining online public spaces, aims to create a network of online communities tailored for Chicago's diverse neighborhoods. The chicago.com domain name was generously donated by the Chicago Community Trust. The platform will be powered by Roundabout, a local community platform that New_Public has been developing over the past year. The partners plan to introduce five pilot neighborhood communities this autumn. To ensure effective moderation and engagement, they will hire paid, contract "community stewards" for each neighborhood. Chicago Public Media CEO Melissa Bell emphasized that the platform is intended as a community hub, explicitly stating, "This is a community platform, not a news site — it’s like, very much not a news site." She further clarified the project's intent by saying, "It’s crucial that we don’t think of this as a publishing platform." This strategic move comes at a time when news organizations globally are grappling with the declining reach of traditional news websites, as audiences increasingly turn to social media for information. The project seeks to address the challenge of information access and civic engagement, which a civic information needs census of Chicago, conducted earlier this summer in partnership with Chicago Public Media, revealed varies significantly across the city's neighborhoods. By creating a dedicated community platform, Chicago Public Media aims to offer an alternative to the often overwhelming and negative experience of social media, providing a more useful and engaging online environment for residents. The ambition is to build a platform that can potentially compete with established social media networks by offering a more positive and community-focused experience, moving beyond the traditional role of a news publisher to foster civic connection and information sharing at a hyper-local level. The initiative represents a significant departure from conventional news publishing models, exploring new avenues for public media to serve its audience and community in the digital age.