Renowned Investigative Journalist Steve Fainaru Joins The Bay Citizen

SAN FRANCISCO, March 23 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bay Citizen is very pleased to announce that Steve Fainaru, formerly a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter at the Washington Post, is joining the organization as Managing Editor for News.

"Steve Fainaru is among the pre-eminent investigative reporters in the country, with a remarkable track record in conceiving and delivering high-impact journalism across a range of subjects," said Jonathan Weber, editor in chief of The Bay Citizen. "We are absolutely thrilled to have him on the team."

Fainaru was born in Mountain View and graduated from Redwood High School in Larkspur. He has been based in the Bay Area for the Post since 2002 and currently lives in El Cerrito.

Fainaru won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 2008 for his 10-part series on widespread abuses involving Blackwater and other private security contractors in Iraq. His work, the culmination of three years covering the Iraq war, led to major changes in the way private security companies are employed and managed by the U.S. government.

Fainaru began his career with the San Jose Mercury News, where he covered sports. He later worked at the Boston Globe before moving to the Washington Post. He is the author of two books, Big Boy Rules: American Mercenaries Fighting in Iraq (Da Capo, 2008) and The Duke of Havana: Baseball, Cuba and the Search for the American Dream (Villard, 2000).

"The Bay Citizen represents the cutting edge of innovation in American journalism," Fainaru said. "It is a thrill and an honor to be involved in this effort to promote aggressive and independent public-interest reporting in the place I have always considered home and to develop new ways of telling the epic story of the Bay Area."

In separate news, The Bay Citizen, formerly known as the Bay Area News Project, also announced that it would begin operating under its new name.

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