Widely-read by journalists across the country, Poynter.org has published a profile of the quickly-growing independent news scene in Seattle, highlighting Next Door Media. They also published a story on the Seattle Times’ partnership with Next Door Media and several other Seattle news sites, including the West Seattle Blog.

“Seattle has become a hotbed for neighborhood and niche blogs,” said Kathy Best, the Times’ managing editor for digital news and innovation. “As we watched our own newsroom resources shrink, we began talking about how we could tap into that hyper-local community movement to create partnerships that would allow us to continue to offer quality coverage in key areas.”