Finally, some encouraging news about the news business. Eve Batey (former Chron deputy ME for online and before that a co-founder and writer for SFist) is the editor and publisher of the new San Francisco Appeal. It looks like a site local news junkies will bookmark because it has a lot of original reporting.

“People are crazy hungry for journalism, they just don’t want it in the form a newspaper that appears on their doorstep,” Batey tells CBS5. The CBS5 report said Batey’s staff isn’t being paid, at least not initially. The Appeal is hoping to pay the bills with advertising.

Speaking of original reporting, Batey looks at some scenarios about who might buy the Chron.

Below is the CBS5 report that announces the start of SF Appeal.