Patchwork Nation: Media Landscape Shifts Online in a Wired Town

Like many communities across the nation, Ann Arbor — home to the University of Michigan — has seen its local paper disappear. Yet despite the shut down, this heavily wired, tech-savvy college town is discovering new ways to fill the void.

After shuttering its doors earlier this year, the Ann Arbor News announced that with the help of a mini-army of local bloggers, it would be launching a new Web site, AnnArbor.com, to cover local stories. The site now competes with another local start-up, The Ann Arbor Chronicle, in a good old-fashioned newspaper war. The difference in this case, is that the battleground has moved online.