Contact: Tracy Baim editor@windycitymediagroup.com

Among hundreds of Chicago non-traditional news sites, Windy City Media Group ( WCMG ) was ranked second according to a Chicago Community Trust report issued in June. WCMG was the top-ranked LGBT news site, and the only one in the 60 top sites ranked. WCMG is publisher of Windy City Times and Nightspots, and also produces WindyCityQueercast.com and QueerTVNetwork.com

The report, commissioned by The Chicago Community Trust, surveyed media professionals and users across the Chicago area, and used a complex rating system based on several self-reported statistics, third-party rankings, and a qualitative assessment by Community Media Workshop ( CMW ) .

Several mainstream media sites, for example the Tribune, Sun-Times and TV sites, were not included, but Web sites for NPR, the Chicago Reader and other independent and online-only media were included.

The following is how CMW ranked the top 20:

1: Chi-Town Daily News

2: Windy City Media Group

3: Gapers Block

4: Progress Illinois

5: Windy Citizen

6: WBEZ Chicago Public Radio

7: Chicago Parent

8: Catalyst Chicago

9: Chicagoist

10: Midwest Vusiness

11: CTA Tattler

12: The Beachwood Reporter

13: Newcity

14: The Chicago Defender

15: District 299

16: The Chicago Reporter

17: The Urbanaphile

18: Chicago Carless

19: 600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda

20: Marathon Pundit

This announcement comes just weeks after The Reader named WCTimes the "Best GLBT news source in Chicago" and days after the completion of WCMG's 7th annual Windy City Gay Idol promotion with over 1000 attending Semi-finals and Finals competitions.

Windy City Times is online at www.windycitymediagroup.com

See www.communitymediaworkshop.org or www.newstips.org .