West Marin Citizen

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West Marin Citizen
Type Weekly newspaper
Format Tabloid
Owner(s) West Marin Citizen
Publisher Linda Petersen
Editor Linda Petersen
Founded 2007
Language English
Headquarters

60 4th Street, Point Reyes Station, CA

94956 United States
Official website westmarincitizen.com

The West Marin Citizen is a weekly newspaper based in Point Reyes Station, California, that covers the western region of Marin County. After a pilot edition, the paper published its first issue on July 5, 2007.[1]

Joel Hack launched the Citizen in reaction to the purchase of the Point Reyes Light, a long-established, Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper also based in Point Reyes Station, by Robert Plotkin, who owned the paper between 2005-2010. The change in ownership - after the $500,000 sale by long-time owner and editor Dave Mitchell[2] - had temporarily led to a different editorial tone and staff changes. The Citizen continued to operate after 2010, despite the purchase of the Light by the Marin Media Institute, governed by a board of local journalists, writers and educators. Hack characterized the Citizen as practicing "community service journalism".[3] Former Light managing editor Jim Kravets was the paper's first editor.

Contributors have included members of the local Latino Photography Project, whose work ran as an ongoing series called "La Vida".[4] In August 2008, the Citizen won six awards from the National Newspaper Association based on the paper's first six months of reporting.[5][6]

In mid-2008, a group of residents formed a limited liability company with the intent of merging the Light and Citizen to create a single community-owned newspaper, but by the end of the year, could not come to terms with the Light's publisher on a price or the terms of the proposed buyout. The group, reconstituted as the Marin Media Alliance, focused its effort towards community ownership solely on the Citizen.[5][7][8][9] The effort was not successful.

In October 2010, Hack retired as editor and publisher, turning the paper over to advertising director Linda Petersen.[10]

References

  1. ↑ "West Marin Citizen website". Retrieved 2009-01-06. 
  2. ↑ Fimrite, Peter. "Pulitzer Prize-winning Marin newspaper sold". 
  3. ↑ "Nothing laid-back about paper's readers" by Peter Fimrite,San Francisco Chronicle, June 9, 2007, retrieved 2009-01-06.
  4. ↑ Ashley, Beth (December 12, 2008). "West Marin Latinas find confidence, joy photographing people in community". Marin Independent Journal. Retrieved 2009-01-06. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Hack, Joel (January 8, 2008). "Looking ahead: counting the steps along the path". West Marin Citizen website. Retrieved 2009-01-11. 
  6. ↑ "2008 Better Newspaper Contest Winners". National Newspaper Association. Retrieved 2009-01-11. 
  7. ↑ Plotkin, Robert (January 15, 2009). "Lys takes on the Light". Point Reyes Light. pp. p4. Retrieved 2009-01-17. 
  8. ↑ Fradkin, Philip; Steve Costa, Kirk Marckwald (March 5, 2009). "Introducing: Your community-owned newspaper". West Marin Citizen. p. 2. Retrieved 2009-03-17. 
  9. ↑ Rogers, Bob (March 8, 2009). "In wake of newspaper war, West Marin residents seek local control". Marin Independent Journal. Retrieved 2009-03-12. 
  10. ↑ Liberatore, Paul (October 31, 2011). "Founder of the West Marin Citizen retires". Marin Independent Journal. Retrieved 31 October 2011. 

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