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A new online service to enable journalists to 'engage' with the readers is to launch today. The goal of NewsTilt, its founders say , is to turn each journalist using its platform "into a TechCrunch for their niche".

The project was inspired by news sites like TechCrunch and Huffington Post that have built readership communities around individual journalists.

"Each journalist on the NewsTilt site interacts directly with readers, answers their questions, and consults with them on story ideas," it announced this week.

"Through these interactions, journalists aim to build a strong reader-focussed online brand for themselves."

NewsLabs, the start-up behind NewsTilt, is a small enterprise, founder and computer scientist Paul Biggar told Journalism.co.uk. His co-founder is also a computer scientist, Nathan Chong.

Of the 150 journalists that have applied to NewsTilt so far, 30 have been accepted.

"Journalists who want to get involved should sign up on newstilt.com . We're applying a lot of quality control at the moment, but we'll try and get back to them quickly," said Biggar.

"We want to provide a service to journalists, where they create the news, engage with their communities, and earn a living. And we'll do everything else for them."

The platform also has a founding editorial group, headed by Jon Margolis, former chief national political correspondent Chicago Tribune.

NewsTilt is supported by the Silicon Valley startup incubator, Y Combinator . While initial funding comes from the US, its two founders actually come from Ireland (Biggar) and the UK (Chong).

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Written by
Judith Townend

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