Press Innovation

It would seem that a Newark, New Jersey, newspaper is going to do for $100,000 what the Memphis Commercial-Appeal has been doing for free:

The city council here has awarded the Newark Weekly News a $100,000 no-bid contract to publish positive news about the city, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported in Monday's editions.

Howard Scott, who owns Newark Weekly News, told the Star-Ledger he is merely providing the city with a service.

"Do we have critical reporters on staff? No. Do we have investigative reporters? No," Scott told the newspaper. "Our niche is the good stuff. People have come to know it, and they love it."

It was Scott who proposed the good news only idea to the city council, who unanimously approved the idea earlier this month.

Of course, the city already has one of these (Dig around the website and Google; you'll love who's involved.), but I'm sure the CA wouldn't mind the extra income.

Or the CA could call it an "ongoing consultant study" and get the City to pay up to $400,000 to fund it.