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Reporters at a US community news website will now be permanently "out of the office" with the launch of a new coffee shop newsroom.

Freehold InJersey (FinJ), which is produced by journalists from Gannet's New Jersey titles, has moved its newsroom to a local cafe in an attempt to encourage closer links between the news site and its local readers.

"At a computer workstation surrounded by diners and patrons, the staff of Freehold InJersey will conduct interviews, work on stories, and produce multimedia content for this groundbreaking website. Passers-by can stop to ask the latest news, share a tip, or learn how to post their own stories to the open-source news site,” says editor Colleen Curry in a blog post .

Based at the Zebu Forno coffee shop in Freehold Borough, New Jersey, the newsroom will also offer a free desktop computer for readers to use.

"At FinJ, we hope that having a 'newsroom' in the center of town will encourage folks to drop by, talk to the staff, and participate in a community conversation. It's our hope that the newsroom will allow Freehold to get to know us, and help us get to know the people we're serving," says Curry.

The "newsroom cafe" idea has been trialled by news groups in Europe, including Nasa Andresa, which in December said it was planning 90 cafes in the Czech Republic .

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Written by

Laura Oliver
Laura Oliver
Laura Oliver is a freelance journalist, a contributor to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, co-founder of The Society of Freelance Journalists and the former editor of Journalism.co.uk (prior to it becoming JournalismUK)

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