Five months after suspending Journatic for plagiarism and other ethical breaches in its TribLocal suburban newspapers, the Chicago Tribune announced to employees Thursday it will resume use of the hyperlocal content provider on a limited basis for such information as community listings.
But the newspaper's executives said the Tribune will not go back to using Journatic as a source of reported news stories for TribLocal.
Over the next few weeks, TribLocal will begin incorporating listings and other informational items for 11 community editions, with plans to expand to other geographies from there. Chicago Tribune staff reporters and freelance writers will continue to supply all bylined news stories, with the newspaper maintaining full editorial responsibility for news content. Tribune reporters took on that responsibility during Journatic's suspension.
"The strategy is sound," Chicago Tribune Media Group President Vince Casanova said. "There were problems with the way we executed it. This will get it back on track."
The decision follows a just-completed comprehensive review of Journatic's work for TribLocal that found no additional instances of editorial breaches beyond "poor reporting" and lack of attribution.
Chicago-based Journatic has retained former Chicago Tribune Managing Editor/News Hanke Gratteau as a consultant and senior advisor for editorial, where she will serve as a liaison with the newspaper. It has also adopted a new ethics policy.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-journatic-tribune-20121206,0,2766542,full.story
