Site Specific: The Bay Citizen

Bay Citizen Blazes Local Nonprofit News Trail

Nonprofit news site The Bay Citizen got a jump start to success early in its life with a unique content relationship with The New York Times that provides two pages of local news for the newspaper's Northern California edition.
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Bay Citizen covers the San Francisco Bay Area's nine counties.
The Bay Citizen San Francisco Chronicle
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A quick measure of the Bay Citizen’s news chops is its relationship with The New York Times. Twice weekly -- on Fridays and Sundays -- the Bay Citizen provides two pages of local news to the back of the Times’ A-section (and its corresponding Web links) for all papers delivered in Northern California. It’s an arrangement that has been in place since its debut (the Times pays a content royalty fee -- there’s no revenue sharing deal).

The Times partnership provides an enviable bona fide for a startup, and it came about in the initial six-month incubation period for the site according to editor in chief Jonathan Weber. Weber said that while the Bay Citizen doesn’t quite aspire to the massive, six-month investigative pieces notably undertaken by another Times content partner, ProPublica, “I think we bring depth and sophistication to core enterprise journalism that goes a bit beyond what a lot of the traditional news outlets have done.”

Weber offered a look at the site’s vital stats as well as its plan for revenue diversity and content growth.

Launched: May 2010

Updates: Seven days weekly

Monthly unique visitors (average): 150,000

Mobile platform: iPhone app

Content focus: Civic news -- politics and public policy, crime, environment, transportation, land use, education and culture coverage of both high and street art

Geographic focus: The nine counties of the San Francisco Bay Area: “We’re most closely focused on the inner ring, which includes San Francisco, Oakland, the inner East Bay towns of Alameda and Berkeley and Richmond, but we also cover Silicon Valley, San Jose and even a little bit into Napa and Sonoma.”

Target demographic: “An educated, sophisticated audience that’s interested in public affairs. A public radio, New York Times-type of audience.”

Annual operating budget: Approximately $5 million

Membership: 2,150 members

Editorial Staff: 17

Most popular features: Investigative and breaking news; coverage of returning veterans and challenges at home; political reporting on San Francisco insider politics.

Primary digital competition: SF Gate

What distinguishes Bay Citizen from its digital competition: “We have a good multimedia approach using a lot of different kinds of tools, whether it be video or photography or quick data applications and Twitter feeds. Mid-range enterprise news is our sweet spot.”

What’s next: “We aspire to be bigger because we need more people to do the job. We’ve made a big effort in the area of data journalism and interactive news applications, and we have a lot more to do in terms of fully integrating that and making it a core part of all our journalism.”

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