Independent French news website Rue89.com is to launch a sister site for Marseille, its founder announced today.

The site, which was started as a pilot a week ago, will be launched officially next week and will focus on regional news.

A news editor for the site, based in Marseille, will lead a team of non-professional contributors and bloggers as part of the Rue89’s 'pro-am' approach.

However, what is published online will be decided and moderated by the journalist.

Pierre Haski, founder and editor-in-chief of Rue89, believes the success of the national model can be replicated at a local level.

"You take a city like Marseille, which has a very specific economic and cultural life and a very strong civic society, and you can replicate the idea of participation on the site," Haski told Journalism.co.uk at the World Editors Forum.

Local advertising partnerships will also be explored, he added.

"It's an experiment and if there is a model we will produce it for other major populations in France."