Bloggers and journalists have united to launch a Scandinavian citizen journalism portal to create a cross-regional Scandinavian news site, Kristine Lowe reported Tuesday from Oslo.

iNorden.org is “an attempt at setting new standards for civic journalism in our neck of the woods,” the site's founders stated.

The site was founded “in the absence of a media corporation with the foresight to utilise the fabulous opportunities online to create a cross-regional Scandinavian news site,” Lowe stated in her blog, citing Undercurrent. “ ... after all, the regions' languages are more similar than they are different.”

According to iNorden, Scandinavian countries have plenty of common arenas, and while the Internet is an “ideal channel for international dialogue,” there hasn't been a portal established for the countries to share.

“Even though an arena such as this would normally be initiated by the authorities or a sizeable media corporation, iNorden was founded by a group of concerned bloggers and journalists, who, like so many others recognised the absence of a Nordic common ground on the Internet – or anywhere, for that matter,” the site's founders stated on iNorden's Web site.