Bay Area News Project Announces New Name: The Bay Citizen

SAN FRANCISCO, March 23 /PRNewswire/ -- A nonprofit public media organization based in San Francisco today announced its new name, The Bay Citizen.  The organization, formerly known as the Bay Area News Project, will begin operating under the new name immediately.  

"'Bay Area News Project' has always been our temporary name," says Editor-in- Chief Jonathan Weber.  "We've been working on creating a name that speaks more to our mission.  We kept coming back to the concept of 'citizens.' To us, citizens are active, engaged, curious, and passionate about what's going on in their community.  And that's what our mission is – to provide news, information, and tools that help people become more engaged with their Bay Area community."

"Our students and faculty were involved in the naming process, and we are excited about The Bay Citizen," said Neil Henry, dean of the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.  "The word citizen embodies the biggest challenge and the biggest opportunity for journalism today: involving citizens with the news in all manner of new ways."

"The way we see it, we can all be citizens of the Bay Area, regardless of our ethnicity, education, nationality, immigration status, or income level. Citizens actively participate in democratic life - whether that is by voting in the next election, going to a local artists' exhibition, signing a petition, starting a local business, or volunteering at their child's school.  At The Bay Citizen, our mission is to provide news and information that helps create more 'Bay Citizens.'" said Lisa Frazier, CEO.

The Bay Citizen worked with graphic design firm Michael Osborne Design to create the new name and identity.  "Creating the new name and logo for The Bay Citizen was exciting and very rewarding.  We all wanted a visual identity that is inviting, engaging, and dynamic, but one that also communicates the credibility and seriousness of fact-based journalism.  We think we accomplished this through the use of serif and sans-serif typefaces as well as the color – the blue of the Bay juxtaposed against the pop of the orange," said Michael Osborne, President and Creative Director.

With the new name in place, The Bay Citizen plans to launch its "Be a Founder" fundraising campaign in the coming days. People who donate in advance of the site's late spring launch will be permanently recognized as a "Founder" of The Bay Citizen.

In separate news, The Bay Citizen also announced that it has hired Steve Fainaru, formerly a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter with the Washington Post, as its Managing Editor for News.

About The Bay Citizen

The Bay Citizen is a non-profit, nonpartisan news organization with the mission of enhancing civic and community news coverage in the Bay Area, stimulating innovation in journalism, and fostering civic engagement.  The locally produced, professional news organization plans to leverage broad collaborations and new digital technologies to provide Bay Area news that reflects the region's dynamic social and cultural diversity. Coverage will include government and public policy, education, the arts and cultural affairs, the environment, and neighborhood news.  The Bay Citizen is currently a fiscally sponsored project of Community Initiatives, a 501(c)(3) organization that enables individuals and groups, working together, to create and invest in projects that benefit the public.

For more information, please visit www.baycitizen.org

SOURCE The Bay Citizen