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, housing, transportation, the environment, health, land use, criminal justice and the arts and nonprofit communities. Through our collaborations with other media organizations we also feature coverage of neighborhood topics.

Where can I read your stories?

Our stories appear in multiple platforms on our website and mobile apps. To broaden the reach of our journalism, we also distribute our stories to local media partners, including the San Francisco Chronicle, KQED, New America Media, KGO TV, KGO Radio and many more. Distributing our news across multiple platforms 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 with the J-School's award winning hyper-local sites and offer student internships.

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 (content sales, 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.

• (415) 821-8520
• info@baycitizen.org

• Founded in 2010; Merged with CIR April 2012
• Nonprofit, nonpartisan
• Dedicated to fact-based, investigative accountability reporting
• Local source for in-depth Bay Area news