Over the past week or so, you may have heard a Chi-Town Daily News (if you didn’t already after their launch or the naming lawsuit mumbo jumbo from the Sun-Times). Recently, Online Journalism Review flashed an article, “Former Chicago Tribune reporter takes it to the street.” Here’s a nibble:

After more than a decade in the mainstream media, Dougherty decided to call it quits at the Tribune last Novembver and start up his own news organization. The website he created took the name of a legendary Chicago paper: the Daily News.

With the Chi-Town Daily News, Dougherty saw an opportunity to do everything he thought the mainstream media was failing to do, especially in the realm of the Internet.

“That’s really where the future of the industry lies, so my thought was ‘Well, rather than wait around ten years to see how that develops, why not actually be in a position to develop it?’” Dougherty said.

One of Chicago’s (many, many) alt weeklies, New City got in on the fun, “DIY Media: The Daily News makes its case for online citizen journalism.” Check out it:

Dougherty’s solution: Pay people for stories, and send them to journalism school for free. Armed with a $12,000 grant from the University of Maryland’s Center for Interactive Journalism, Dougherty and some teachers in Columbia College’s journalism department are plotting a special curriculum that will recruit reporters from Chicago neighborhoods–starting with Streeterville, Gold Coast and Bronzeville.

…

The site’s music and sports blogs are thriving, but most of the local hard news comes from Northwestern University’s Medill News Service. In April, Dougherty and his partners from Columbia–Barbara Iverson and Natalie Moore–held a recruitment and training meeting at the Chinatown branch of the Chicago Public Library. Only one volunteer showed up then to take advantage of Dougherty’s diligently copied tip sheets on reporting and writing, and Dougherty says he’s lost track of her since.

Even the Brits are getting in on the action “US experiment in citizen journalism offers alternative model for local news reporting.” Get some:

Currently, he has 15 reporters throughout the city, none of who are professional journalists. He is the lone fulltime member of staff.

Eventually he hopes to have a fully-trained ‘citizen’ reporter in each of Chicago’s zip codes to provide coverage on what matters most to people in those areas – which could be as varied as covering neighbourhood sports teams, reporting on local planning, or more in-depth investigative pieces about city administration.

So yea. The Chi-Town Daily News is already battling for readers time against the big dogs, a bevy of robust alt weeklies, a plethora of local bloggers and online pubs sprouting up, including The Beachwood Reporter, Gapers Block and Chicagoist…

… And now it appears Backfence.com, the … uh, U.S.A. Today of citizen journalism is looking to hire a Chicago editor. As far as I know, Backfence.com hasn’t announced any official plans to breech Chicago, but… well. Unless they think the City of Big Shoulders has a wealth of Bethesda knowledge.

Anyway, local print big dog The Chicago Sun-Times is also looking for a Community Website Coordinator.

So within the year, Chicago’s cj options appear to be plentiful. How many people in the Second City are crying out to write articles in their Alderman District!? Someone’s not going to survive… and unfortunately, as is often the case, it may not be the little guys that kick started it.