NNB News

This magazine was designed with you – the reader in mind. Journalism students at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg developed the concept with an eye on community journalism. In other words, we don’t want to tell you what is news in your community; we want you to tell us what’s important to Midtown.

This is your magazine, and that’s why you’ll find useful information from both student journalists and Midtown residents throughout the magazine. For example, residents may submit photos of the month and send letters to the editor. You’ll find in this first issue the kinds of stories that often go untold, stories about the people, places and historic venues that reside within your 5.5 square-mile stretch of St. Petersburg, Florida.

What you are holding in your hands is the culmination of more than 10 years of work. Dr. G. Michael Killenberg and Dr. Robert Dardenne developed the Neighborhood News Bureau some 10 years ago. For most of that time, the bureau existed in the confines of a professor’s office, before it opened at the Sanderlin Center in March 2006. Since then, the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at the University of South Florida has moved swiftly and developed a Web site and a magazine.

Feature stories are written by USF St. Petersburg students who explore Midtown each semester and capture snapshots of those who call Midtown home.

Enjoy this and many more issues to come.

Monique Fields
Coordinator, Neighborhood News Bureau