RepJ project

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Locally Grown has been chosen to test an innovative project called Representative Journalism (RepJ), “a system to help communities, individuals and groups underwrite their own journalists.” See the Representative Journalism site for details, as well as the Feb. 2008 RepJ press release (PDF).

Bonnie Obremski is the RepJ reporter/journalist currently assigned to Northfield. See her bio for more. Contact Bonnie at 774-272-0730 or RepJNorthfield@gmail.com

Bonnie Obremski's RepJ Blog
Bonnie Obremski's RepJ Blog

She has her own RepJ blog where she updates readers on the progress of the stories she’s working on. She publishes her RepJ articles/stories/blog posts to the Locally Grown blog.

Bonnie’s RepJ stories have a different visual style to help distinguish them from the blog posts by the LG Triumvirate of Ross, Tracy and Griff. There is an editorial boundary between RepJ and Locally Grown. The LG bloggers do not choose, preview, or edit the RepJ stories. Bonnie is supervised by Professor Leonard Witt and her articles are edited by Linda Seebach.


Bill Densmore, Chris Peck, Len WittLeonard WittRepJ is led by Communication Chair and Associate Professor Leonard Witt (left photo) at Kennesaw State University in Atlanta, Georgia. Collaborators include Chris Peck (center in right photo), editor of The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, TN. and Bill Densmore (left in right photo), Director of the Media Giraffe project at the Univ. of Massachusetts-Amherst.

Locally Grown did a podcast on the project in March, 2008, when the Representative Journalism (RepJ) team visited Northfield.


hff_logo_bigRuth Ann HarnischFunding for the project is provided by the Harnisch Family Foundation, led by Ruth Ann Harnisch, President.


The RepJ Advisory Board includes:


Since RepJ is a pilot project, there is an ongoing evaluation component.


U of MN professor Shayla Thiel Stern will be conducting a variety of polls and surveys to assess the project’s impact.