Come on in, there's plenty of room

Update: perceptive analysis over at Paperhouse of Brown's spat with the Bristol Evening Post over the value of news in the crudest sense.

And welcome to Bristol 24-7 which editor Chris Brown describes as:

• First, as a local newspaper, to be the city’s most comprehensive source of news, sport and opinion. I intend to bring together the best news sources into this site to give readers the widest possible range of information – and produce as much original journalism as possible to provide a new, distinct perspective on life in this great city. “I’ll do what I do best… and link to the rest”

• Second, to be the best source of information on the city – in effect, to be the Google of Bristol. Over the coming months new sections will be added so that, whether you are a resident, or just planning to visit, then I hope to ensure that the facts and figures you need make your time in the city easier is available – quickly and easily – through this site. If it isn’t, then get in touch and I’ll make sure it will be in future.

• Finally, to provide businesses with a range of online marketing solutions to help them grow. What does this mean in plain English? It means, why spend big money on short-lived newspaper ads with no idea if the money has been well spent? Bristol24-7 can provide you with everything from new, interactive websites, to SEO, Google Ad management, social networking and email marketing – with honesty and integrity at heart, and at a price that puts the power of the internet into the hands of even the smallest company, organisation or group.

And the bit I appreciate, being a good NUJ member and all that, is this line:

At present though, I am not in a position to pay for contributions to this site – and I will not ask for anyone to offer their work to me for free. It is an unsustainable way to conduct a business and is clearly not fair for contributors.

I hope in time that the site succeeds and I can pay for contributions. Until then, all I can do is ask readers to email me if you have any suggestions to improve the site, or are willing to contribute to make this site a success. I promise I will read all messages and reply, if necessary, as soon as I possibly can.

Good luck with it. You can also follow Bristol 24-7's twitter feed and the email is: [email protected].