New media, traditional media: Perfect together

Here’s something you don’t see every day:

At first glance, it might look like any one of the myriad special sections produced by newspapers across America every week.

But look closer and you’ll notice an unusual bit of branding: The Star-Ledger and Baristanet.com.

As Debra Galant and Jeff Jarvis noted earlier this week (Debra here, and Jeff here), we have partnered with Baristanet to produce a guide to Montclair — a Jersey suburb with a distinctly urban flair that’s part of The Star-Ledger’s coverage area and the lodestar of Baristanet’s hyperlocal universe.

We could be competing with each other, of course. We could be covering the same stories and fighting for the same ad dollars. Instead, we’re trying to find ways to complement each other and serve local residents together while developing a new business model.

The guide, which will be delivered to Star-Ledger subscribers and to drop points throughout Montclair on May 15, combines the special voice and local knowledge of Baristanet with the newsroom talent, salesforce and production and delivery infrastructure of the newspaper.

Together, we can do something better — and more efficiently — than either of us could do alone.

And have fun doing it.

P.S. — Baristanet’s readers and contributors have had some fun with this, too, mainly at our expense. My favorite comment about the Ledger is this one: “I always have the feeling reading it that cozy hackdom nestled up alongside NJ politicians and big advertisers is its true sole ambition.” Ouch!