This week’s buzz on nonprofit local news

I got about a dozen e-mails within hours of the publication of a great story on the front page of The New York Times on Tuesday, "Web Sites That Dig for News Rise as Watchdogs." Reporter Richard Pérez Peña highlighted our friends at Voice of San Diego, and examined other projects in Minneapolis, Seattle, St. Louis, Chicago and New Haven, Conn. These are all promising developments, even if most of them are dependent on philanthropic aid and chronically under-funded so far. This is just a piece of what we hope to accomplish for San Francisco. There are actually a great many more of these local news sites, which employ actual reporters, uphold the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics and cast themselves as a potential step toward an answer of what to do if the establishment press collapses.

Join us: Dec. 4 fundraiser for noncommercial journalism in Bay Area

Help bring real news back to the San Francisco Bay Area and meet area journalists at a fundraiser/mixer Dec. 4 that is sure to get you excited about the news again.The event, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., is a chance to learn how two grassroots groups are working to bring professional, noncommercial journalism to the Bay Area. The Public Press and Newsdesk.org are hosting the reception, which will include leading local public-media pioneers. The "Truthiness" report, the San Francisco election ad fact-checking project, will be presented, along with the best of Bay Area documentary photography.(If you can’t make it that night, please consider donating to The Public Press through the Web.)The event will be at the Unitarian Universalist Church, Starr King Room, 1187 Franklin St., between O’Farrell and Geary in San Francisco. Complimentary beer, wine and appetizers will be served.

Spot.us goes live

Spot.us is going live today, Nov. 10, and it could be the wave of the future as far as new journalism goes. It uses "crowdfunding" to collect small donations from large numbers of people to support stories you might not see anywhere else. I have two pitches on the site: One about the Cosco Busan oil spill a year ago in the bay, and another about the cost of solar power for homeowners. Check out the site and see what you think.

Prop. D: Consensus on Pier 70?

By Bernice Yeung, Newsdesk.org/The Public Press Although development is a perennially hot-button topic in San Francisco due to concerns about gentrification, Proposition D, which would facilitate Pier 70 revitalization, is a seemingly controversy-free measure that has garnered wide support from neighborhood groups, environmentalists, city officials and developers. Pier 70 is a 65-acre site along the Central Waterfront, just south of Mission Bay. According to the Port of San Francisco’s proposed master plan — which will be finalized by early 2009 and then released to the public for comment before going to the Board of Supervisors for approval — the redeveloped port would feature retail sites, restaurants, public parks, cultural venues, parking and continued maritime industry (Pier 70 is the oldest continuously operating shipyard on the West Coast for boat building and repair). In fact, many anti-gentrification activists are supporting D because they see it as a way to not only save the historic buildings, but also to insist on more green space and less dense retail-type development. No Opposition?

The ‘truthiness’ is out there; many assume bias in media

The "Truthiness" election-ad fact-check project we’ve been publishing along with Newsdesk.org and Spot.Us is almost done, but suspicion from the public that anyone can remain dispassionate when it comes to politics definitely remains.That sets a high hurdle for a startup journalism project trying to break into  coverage of San Francisco in a significant way.Though the series has been covered in a positive light in some corners of the blogosphere, notably in a thoughful column in PBS MediaShift by Mark Glaser and a blog post yesterday at SF Weekly’s Web site by Will Harper, the personal reactions I’ve gotten have been varied.Mostly, questions from several of my liberal friends who’ve gotten caught up in campaign fever swirl around whether the Public Press is taking a "progressive" or otherwise advocacy tone on the San Francisco ballot propositions were scrutinizing. The answer, unequivocally, is no.We’re not shooting for a liberal or conservative bent in our coverage because the principle we’re upholding is good journalism that has no sacred cows. The reason our vision includes fundraising from the public and public-interest foundations, and not income from corporate or political advertising, is that we want to be as free as possible to scrutinize all sides.That point of view didn’t entirely sink in for Harper, or the rude anonymous commenter on his blog post, who accused Newsdesk and the Public Press of being shills for the San Francisco Bay Guardian, which has vociferously advocated for public power and against Pacific Gas & Electric Co. for decades now. As I pointed out in a follow-up comment:Yes, we have hired reporters with experience working at the Bay Guardian, but also SF Weekly, the Recorder, the San Jose Mercury News, the San Francisco Chronicle and other publications.