The City (website)

The City was first announced on September 26, 2018, in a press release issued by the Charles H. Revson Foundation. The New York Times reported its announcement. The press release stated:

{{Blockquote|text=The City will focus on accountability journalism for a broad audience, will collaborate with other news outlets to further build the local media ecosystem, and will cover some of the most important beats in New York City.{{Cite web|url=http://revsonfoundation.org/news/presenting-the-city-a-revson-conceived-nonprofit-digital-news-startup/|title = Presenting The City, A Revson-Conceived Nonprofit Digital News Startup | the Charles H. Revson Foundation}}|sign=|source=}}

In its release, the organization announced a collaboration with New York magazine and in February 2019, The City began publishing stories on their Intelligencer blog.{{Cite web|url=http://nymag.com/press/2018/09/new-york-magazine-partners-with-news-start-up-the-city.html|title=New York Magazine Partners With The City, a Nonprofit Digital News Start-up|date=2018-09-26|website=New York Press Room|language=en|access-date=2019-04-03}}{{Cite web|title=There is nobody who will cover this|url=https://www.cjr.org/special_report/local-news-new-york-city.php/|access-date=2019-11-18|website=Columbia Journalism Review|language=en}} On Intelligencer, The City's inaugural stories looked into the persistence of racial discrimination by police in the Bronx, the suspension of the Housing Authority’s elevator chief for making false maintenance claims, and the routinely broken subway escalators at the Hudson Yards station. On April 3, 2019, The City launched its website: [https://www.thecity.nyc thecity.nyc]. The organization said it would focus on "breaking news of importance to New Yorkers, from beat-driven enterprise stories to incisive investigative reports" and telling "neighborhood stories that transcend neighborhoods." In an interview with Columbia Journalism Review, when asked about the recent layoffs in local news-media, founding Editor-in-chief Jere Hester said: “For years, it was death by a thousand cuts. Lately, it’s become a bloodbath.”{{Cite web|url=https://thecity.nyc/about/us.html|title=About|date=14 May 2020}}

The City launched its website with reports on displacement that would result from the 2nd Avenue subway,{{Cite web|last=Smith|first=Rachel Holliday|date=2019-04-05|title='Imminent' Domain: Uncertain Second Ave. Subway Plans Have Locals on Edge|url=https://www.thecity.nyc/2019/4/5/21212299/imminent-domain-uncertain-second-ave-subway-plans-put-locals-on-edge|access-date=2021-12-10|website=THE CITY|language=en}} a $4.7 million public restroom construction paid by taxpayers{{Cite web|last=Gonen|first=Yoav|date=2019-04-04|title=No Relief as Pricey Park Bathrooms Put Pressure on Taxpayers|url=https://www.thecity.nyc/2019/4/4/21211167/no-relief-as-pricey-park-bathrooms-put-pressure-on-taxpayers|access-date=2021-12-10|website=THE CITY|language=en}} and the city’s failure to follow through on plans to furnish every public school classroom with air conditioning.{{Cite web|last=Gonen|first=Yoav|date=2019-04-09|title=Mayor Flunking on Pledge to Put A/C in Every Classroom|url=https://www.thecity.nyc/education/2019/4/9/21211149/mayor-flunking-on-pledge-to-put-a-c-in-every-classroom|access-date=2021-12-10|website=THE CITY|language=en}} Their work has gotten responses from the likes of Scott Stringer, Bill de Blasio and other city and state elected officials. In June 2020, after discovering that public obituaries skewed white, male and wealthy with people of color rarely reflected in the obituary pages, The City embarked on a project to memorialize every New Yorkers who lost their lives to COVID-19.{{Cite web|date=2020-06-15|title=How Will the Stories of COVID-19 Victims Be Told? A New Project Challenges Who Gets an Obit|url=https://www.vogue.com/article/the-city-obituary-coronavirus-project|access-date=2021-12-10|website=Vogue|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|last1=City|first1=The|last2=School|first2=Columbia Journalism|last3=Innovation|first3=Brown Institute for Media|last4=CUNY|first4=the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at|title=Search the Names of New Yorkers We've Lost to COVID-19|url=https://projects.thecity.nyc/covid-19-deaths/|access-date=2021-12-10|website=The City|language=en-US}}

NYU graduate Jere Hester was The City's founding Editor-in-chief. Hester spent 12 years at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and 15 years at the New York Daily News prior to his time at The City{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/business/media/the-city-new-york-magazine.html|title=Website Revs Up, With New York Magazine's Help, to Cover More Local News|last=Peiser|first=Jaclyn|date=2018-09-26|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-03|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} In September, 2021 it was announced that Hester was returning to Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism as the Director of Editorial Projects and Partnerships.{{Cite web|last=Hester|first=Jere|date=2021-09-24|title=Award-Winning New York News Start-up THE CITY Seeks Editor in Chief|url=https://www.thecity.nyc/pages/award-winning-new-york-news-start-up-the-city-seeks-editor-in-chief|access-date=2021-12-10|website=THE CITY|language=en}} In January, 2022, Richard Kim was announced as the next EIC. Kim previously worked as an Executive Editor at HuffPost and spent over a decade working at The Nation. He began his role at The City on February 1, 2022.{{Cite web|last=Andre|first=Vania|date=2022-01-04|title=Richard Kim Joins New York News Start-Up "THE CITY" As Editor In Chief|url=https://www.thecity.nyc/pages/richard-kim-joins-new-york-news-start-up-the-city-as-editor-in-chief|access-date=2022-01-07|website=THE CITY|language=en}} The City's first publisher John Wotowicz was succeeded by Nic Dawes in January, 2022. Dawes has previously worked at the Human Rights Watch, Hindustan Times and Mail & Guardian.{{Cite web|last=Andre|first=Vania|date=2020-12-16|title=THE CITY Announces New Executive Director|url=https://www.thecity.nyc/pages/the-city-announces-new-executive-director-nicholas-dawes|access-date=2022-01-07|website=THE CITY|language=en}}

Its deputy editors are former New York Daily News editorial board member Alyssa Katz and former NCBNewYork.com managing editor Hasani Gittens. The City's executive director is Nic Dawes, former deputy executive director of Humans Rights Watch.{{Cite web|last=vania-andre|date=2020-12-16|title=The City Announces New Executive Director|url=https://www.thecity.nyc/pages/the-city-announces-new-executive-director-nicholas-dawes|access-date=2021-03-26|website=The City|language=en}} Its current newsroom is staffed by journalists who've previously worked at DNAinfo, The Wall Street Journal, WNYC, NY1, ProPublica, Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News, The Investigative Fund, the New York Post, Politico, NBC News, Newsday, The Marshall Project and The Washington Post. The City occupies space on the fourth floor of a building in Koreatown, Manhattan. It currently shares its space with another news organization, Documented.{{cite web|first1=Lauren|last1=Watson|access-date=2025-01-25|title=Documented Gears Up for Trump|url=https://www.cjr.org/political_press/documented-immigrant-news-gears-up-for-trump.php|website=Columbia Journalism Review}}

The City won a 2020 EPPY Award for Best News or Event Feature on a Website (with less than 1 million unique monthly visitors) for, “Coronavirus in New York,”{{Cite web|title=Eppy Awards|url=https://eppyawards.com/|access-date=2021-03-26|website=eppyawards.com|language=en}} and an EPPY award for Best Use of Social Media/Crowd Sourcing on a Website (with less than one million unique monthly visitors) for, A Tale of Two Special Education Evaluation Systems.

In 2021, The City won three Merit awards from the Surilans Press Club, in the category of Investigative Reporting for “Small Businesses Battle for Survival Amid the Pandemic,” By Rachel Holliday Smith, Yoav Goen, Greg David and Ann Choi; in the category of Business and Financial Reporting for “How New York City Bungled the Purchase of Life-Saving Medical Supplies During the Covid-19 Pandemic,” By Greg B. Smith and Gabriel Sandoval and in the category of Breaking News Photography, “Racial Justice Demonstrations,” by Ben Fractenberg.{{Cite web|title=2021 Silurians Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards {{!}}|url=https://www.silurians.org/http://silurians.org/uncategorized/2021-silurians-press-club-excellence-in-journalism-awards/|access-date=2021-12-10|language=en-US}} The City won the Society of Professional Journalists Sunshine Award for “The Complaint Files the NYPD Doesn’t Want You to See,” co-published by ProPublica.{{Cite web|last=SPJ|title=Sunshine Award winners announced for contributions to open government|url=https://www.spj.org/news.asp?ref=1830|access-date=2021-09-27|website=www.spj.org}} The City won the Radio Television Digital News Association Edward R. Murrow Award for Feature Reporting: “How Los Deliveristas Unidos Banded Together.”{{Cite web|title=2021 National Edward R. Murrow Award winners|url=https://www.rtdna.org/content/2021_national_edward_r_murrow_award_winners|access-date=2021-09-27|website=www.rtdna.org|language=en}}

The City is a non-profit, 501c3, venture and supported by donations and grants. Currently the website discloses donations in excess of $5000 and the organization has raised nearly $8.5 million in initial funding — including $2.5 million each from the Leon Levy Foundation, the Charles H. Revson Foundation and Craigslist founder, Craig Newmark.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/business/media/the-city-new-york-magazine.html|title=Website Revs Up, With New York Magazine's Help, to Cover More Local News|last=Peiser|first=Jaclyn|date=2018-09-26|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-05|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} Other donors include: John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Richard H. Ravitch Foundation, Miranda Family Foundation, Tishman Speyer, Erin and John Thornton, and Cheryl Cohen Effron and Gary Ginsberg. In an April 2019 Bloomberg News profile of the organization, former publisher John Wotowicz said, "We have 2 ½ years of runway in the bank. That's not 25 years of funding. Fundraising will continue to be a terrifically important part of our business." Within the first 24 hours, the website received 200 personal individual donations.{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=2019-04-25|title=Local News in America Is Dying. Charity Might Save It|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-25/silicon-valley-is-killing-local-news-can-charity-bring-it-back|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-11-16|website=Bloomberg.com}}

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Category:2018 establishments in New York City

Category:2010s in Manhattan

Category:American news websites

Category:Mass media companies based in New York City

Category:Mass media companies established in 2018

Category:Non-profit organizations based in New York City