MIAMI – MSNBC announced today that it is acquiring EveryBlock.com, an experiment in hyper-local news funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. EveryBlock founder Adrian Holovaty is a 2007 winner of the foundation’s Knight News Challenge media innovation contest.

Knight Foundation requires all Knight News Challenge winners to make their software available to the public for free as “open source code” to enable anyone to take advantage of Knight-funded media innovation projects that address community information needs. EveryBlock’s software can be downloaded at http://www.everyblock.com/code/ and at http://code.google.com/p/ebcode/.

EveryBlock.com pulls together news reports and public databases relevant to a community – including on real estate sales and restaurant inspections – and then dissects and redistributes the information so that users can find what is happening on their block or nearby.

 “We congratulate Adrian Holovaty on his accomplishment, and we’re especially pleased that his invention is available freely to anyone to address community information needs,” said Gary Kebbel, director of Knight Foundation’s journalism program. “Adoption by the marketplace is a welcome sign of the impact of Knight Foundation’s media innovation strategy.”

The Knight News Challenge is a five-year, $25 million international contest, open to anybody, seeking innovation for using digital technology to inform geographic communities. Applications will be accepted again beginning Sept. 1. For more information visit www.newschallenge.org.

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation advances journalism in the digital age and invests in the vitality of communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Knight Foundation focuses on projects that promote community engagement and lead to transformational change. For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.

Contact:  Marc Fest, Vice President of Communications, 305-908-2677