Our History

The news industry is in a period of immense flux. Over the past five years, the San Francisco Bay Area, mirroring national trends, has experienced a precipitous decline in professional newsroom staff and in original reporting of civic and cultural news.

Concerned about the negative impact of this decline on the community, in early 2009 local philanthropist Warren Hellman convened an advisory committee to examine the issue and offer possible solutions. In January 2010, after many months of research and planning, and with a generous $5 million contribution from the Hellman Family Foundation, The Bay Citizen (first known as the Bay Area News Project) was founded.

In February, The Bay Citizen’s board of directors hired Lisa Frazier, formerly the head of McKinsey & Company’s West Coast Media and Entertainment practice, as President and CEO. With Ms. Frazier’s leadership, The Bay Citizen formed collaborations with leading journalism institutions including The New York Times and the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and recruited an award-winning newsroom headed by Industry Standard veteran Jonathan Weber, as well as a cutting-edge technology team under Chief Technology Officer Brian Kelley.

On May 26, 2010, The Bay Citizen launched its online content on www.baycitizen.org. On June 4, 2010, The Bay Citizen’s newsroom began producing the articles featured in the two-page Bay Area Report in The New York Times’ print editions, which are delivered to over 65,000 Bay Area New York Times subscribers on Fridays and Sundays. Over time, The Bay Citizen also plans to distribute news through podcasts, radio, and potentially TV.

As a nonprofit, nonpartisan, member-supported organization, The Bay Citizen has joined a small but growing number of similar news organizations across the country dedicated to locally-focused public service journalism.