I agree with Chris that you could have found someone other than the New York Times to talk to about local news. That's just lazy.

Here are the best local news sites I know of, I chose them because they actually go out and find facts not reported in the local newspapers:

http://www.countywatchers.com/
http://www.ibvallejo.com/
http://www.californiapensionreform.com/

Just one other note on the Tribune. When has a major daily aggregated a significant audience of high school students - and a totally new revenue stream?
check out www.themash.com

I would suggest there are several resources you could have used to discuss hyper-local news that the NYTimes. They are way behind the Chicago Tribune, that over the last three years created nearly 100 neighborhood supplements and websites for Chicago area neighborhoods. www.triblocal.com. While the Tribune Co. has had challenges, its approach and commitment to local news has paid off, including in the area of revenue.

Also, the leading provider of real new online in Montclair NJ is www.thejerseytomatopress.com. It's a gem and OTM should be on that story as well. You may need to expand your sources to get the real story on where media is going vs. the NYtimes.

So nice that NYU is pairing with The Times to create a propaganda machine for their evil ways in The Village. Is objective journalism now really dead or does that not matter? Everyone is the EV dislikes NYU, aka "The Evil Empire" for taking over everything in sight without regard to the neighborhood.