A brand new news site, Latitude News, that I have found to be really excellent. I’ve been using their beta site for a couple of weeks now. What I particularly like is their world view. Founded by Wojtek Szczerba and Maria Balinska, Latitude is not the pre-programmed, corporate-speak journalism that you might get from major media sources. The wider perspective comes from the fact that readers can be co-creators of international journalism (which includes local journalism). Co-creation is founded upon the fact that: “international isn’t ‘foreign’ anymore.” The American community is both local and connected to the world. Those connections are prime territory for exploration. Check Latitude out. Latitude describes themselves as follows:

Are you curious about how the rest of the world affects your everyday life?

Do you think it would be cool to know what the Koreans (who live in the most plugged in nation on earth) are doing about cyber bullying and how the Finns have drastically reduced heart disease rates?

Do you have great and surprising stories to share about your connections with people and places in other countries?

Then you’ve come to the right place.

For the next few months we invite you to collaborate with us at Latitude News as we navigate new media territory: the co-creation of international journalism with you as a crucial contributor. We’ll be posting different stories to kick start conversations with you. We’ll be testing different discussion technologies together. We want your feedback as to what you think works – and what doesn’t. Our promise to you is that we are responsive, respectful and committed to reliable, fact based reporting

Here at Latitude News our starting point is that international isn’t “foreign” anymore. Scratch the surface of any American community and you’ll find loads of exciting connections between Americans and the rest of the world just waiting to be explored. Most of the issues that we’re debating around the water cooler or online don’t exist in isolation: they have relevant and useful parallels abroad. Our approach is simple. We’re looking to tell stories about the world that connects with your heart and soul: because they’re relevant; because they’re engaging; because they’re entertaining.

It’s your news!

Finally, look out for our daily updates in Ear to the World, where Latitude News journalists highlight topical content from news providers around the world. Where else would you find out that Nigeria’s first lady is being urged to take Betty Ford as a role model; hear the latest popular ring tone in Egypt – ex President Mubarak saying “I completely deny all these charges”; and watch a slide show of how Chinese shrimping families are coping with an oil spill not unlike the 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Journalism is taking a turn to the future with your name on the masthead.

Stories are alive and dynamic at Latitude News. One story has the potential to become 100 and your input will determine our journalistic trajectory. Join a new movement in journalism that brings the world home.