About Us FAQ

Why are you called The Bay Citizen?

What do we mean by “citizen?" To us, a citizen actively participates in civic and community life, whether that’s by voting, going to local artists’ exhibitions, starting a local business or volunteering at your child’s school. Bay Citizens are active, engaged, curious and passionate about what’s going on in the Bay Area community. And, we believe fact-based journalism and innovative online tools can play an important role in fostering that engagement.

“Citizen” embodies the biggest opportunity for journalism today: to bring “citizens” into a closer relationship with the news.

Do we really need more news in the Bay Area?

The Bay Area is one of the most intellectually curious and community-minded regions in the nation. We believe residents have a voracious appetite for high-quality news and information. However, there isn’t as much news about the Bay Area as there once was. While over 900 professional journalists once covered the Bay Area, the same work is now done by around 500 journalists. Over the past ten years, the number of original, professionally-written stories about key local issues declined from 100 per day to 40 at one major metro paper. Most of that decline was in coverage of civic news topics, including education, government, science, health and the arts, which declined twice as much as coverage of sports and entertainment. 

Why are you a nonprofit?

We believe that professional journalism is a public good, as it:

- holds powerful institutions, such as the government, accountable by playing a watchdog role;
- encourages civic participation;
- serves as an unbiased fact base, providing more news and less opinion; and
- ties a community together. News serves the vital function of informing residents about what is happening in their neighborhood.

In our opinion, market mechanisms alone can no longer be relied upon to produce the quality journalism the Bay Area needs. We believe that public support must and will become a critical part of the solution. 

What do you cover?

Our professional newsroom generates original, in-depth coverage of topics of great interest to the community, including public policy, education, the arts and cultural affairs, health and science, business, crime, and the environment and land use. Through our collaborations with other media organizations we also cover topics such as local events and neighborhood news.

Where can I read your stories?

Our primary news outlet is this website, as well as our mobile apps. You can also read our stories in print in The New York Times's Bay Area Report on Fridays and Sundays as well as The Times' online Bay Area section. Over time, we also plan to collaborate with local broadcasters to distribute news via radio and television.

Distributing our news across multiple channels is part of our mission to enhance journalism in the Bay Area. While the future of news is digital, we believe that an online-only model would exclude people who primarily consume news through more traditional channels.

What’s your relationship with UC Berkeley?

The UC Berkeley School of Journalism has been an important part of The Bay Citizen since its inception. We work closely with the J-School's award winning hyper-local sites, and we will also be teaching a class and welcoming paid interns to our newsroom. In addition, we are jointly developing a "test kitchen" for experimentation and innovation in journalism that will involve UC Berkeley's Engineering and Information Systems schools, as well as the Haas School of Business. Neil Henry, Dean of the Journalism School, is a member of The Bay Citizen Board of Directors, and Associate Dean Paul Grabowicz is a member of our editorial advisory board.

What's your relationship with The New York Times?

The Bay Citizen is very proud to be a partner of The New York Times. We produce the editorial content for the Bay Area Report in The New York Times, which you can find on Fridays and Sundays in local editions of the newspaper. We are also very pleased to have Jim Schachter, editor for digital initiatives at The Times, as a member of our editorial advisory board. The Bay Citizen stories produced for the Times will also appear on baycitizen.org and nytimes.com.

How will you work with the community?

The Bay Citizen is very pleased to be working with a wide variety of local independent publishers. You will see their content, and their branding, on our pages, and we also collaborate on stories. If you're interested in learning more about our Community Partner program, please email our Community Editor at Queena_Kim@baycitizen.org.

How much have you raised so far? What will my contribution fund?

We launched with $9 million in start-up funding from foundations, philanthropists, corporations, and individual members.  Major funders include The Hellman Family Foundation, the Fisher family, Jeff and Laurie Ubben, Diane B. Wilsey, the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Arthur Rock, and the other generous individuals and foundations listed here. We were also thrilled to launch with almost $75,000 in support from 830 individual Founding Members.

Going forward, community contributions are extremely important and help fund our ongoing operational expenses: reporters’ salaries, cameras and laptops, and everything else associated with producing quality journalism. You can donate online through the buttons on our website-- any amount big or small helps.

How will you be sustainable?

The Bay Citizen’s business model mirrors that of many successful nonprofit organizations, including public broadcasting. We seek a wide variety of funding streams including both philanthropic revenue (from memberships, foundation grants, major gifts) and earned revenue sources (advertising, corporate sponsorships, licensing). 

Will you really be independent and unbiased?

Yes. Our newsroom is free from partisan bias as well as influence from funders or advertisers. We believe in a strong editorial firewall between reporters and editors, and management.