Jai Ho to America's newspaper of record which goes "hyperlocal" on Monday

If you're still a doubting thomas after visiting with this blog for a while, here's an eye-opener.

A gasping New York Times is going hyperlocal to celebrate the passion of the unpaid, untrained guy with the digital camera.

Yes, the Times has embraced citizen journalism.

Is that a good thing for my favorite newspaper? Time will tell. For now, here's the Washington Post:

On Monday, the NYTimes.com will announce plans for hyperlocal sites throughout New York and New Jersey. The new online channel is called The Local and will blend citizen journalism and staff reports...

CUNY journalism dean Jeff Jarvis' students will be part of the Times' hyperlocalism initiative.

... [Mr. Jarvis says] the new initiative will reach out to a new population of advertisers, the plumbers and pizza places that don't tend to market themselves in the pages of the NYT. Much has been made of the fact that many newspapers have neglected to target smaller businesses and have lost out to online directories. To help the NYT catch up, Jarvis hopes to bring in business students from Baruch College to help map out the best ways to bring in those new advertisers.

I say to the Times, Jai Ho! (to borrow a 2008 "top HollyWord")