In advance of a national conference coming to Detroit this week to brainstorm ways to get better local news, I've come up with a five-question survey. It's part of my post-Channel 7 effort to establish The Michigan News Center, an independent, non-profit news team to continue the kind of work I and Scott Lewis and others were doing before the deep cutbacks by mainstream media.

I'm trying to learn just how much support there might be for an indepdent, non-profit news team to keep doing the kind of work I and Scott Lewis and others did before mainstream media cut back.

You can find the survey here...and please feel free to leave your candid comments and, if you want to help, your contact information.

https://www.novisystems.com/NoviSurv...sonSurvey.aspx

Also, if you have an interest in media reform of this nature, take a look at the big Wayne State conference on Journalism That Matters. It starts Thursday and runs through the weekend. I'll be there to put heads together with anyone with fresh ideas and a way to implement them in this market with the development of The Michigan News Center, or otherwise.

Find more details on the conference here:

http://journalismthatmatters.org/JTMDetroit