Bay Citizen, a nonprofit news project, launches

With $5 million from Wells Fargo heir F. Warren Hellman and $3.7 million from other donors, The Bay Citizen launched its website today. It carried stories about the region's worst global warmers, the battle in Oakland over restraining orders aimed at gangs, the low property tax bills of some of San Francisco's richest residents, and the Chinese exodus from San Francisco.

In sports, the Citizen reports that the Warriors got eight bids, some topping $400 million, but not Larry Ellison's. The Citizen also has sections on the arts and opinion. The environment appears to be a major focus.

CEO Lisa Frazier said in an introductory blog post:

At The Bay Citizen, we are focused on three things: enhancing local news coverage in the Bay area, stimulating innovation in journalism, and fostering civic engagement. We believe that the more informed we are about local civic issues and cultural events, the more apt we are to participate, which strengthens the fabric of our community.

The Citizen has 24 paid staffers including a newsroom of 16 led by Jonathan Weber, co-founder of The Industry Standard and a former LA Times staff writer.

The nonprofit plans to go beyond a website and eventually offer news through podcasts, radio and TV.

The New York Times used some of the Citizen's stories on its website today, and more are expected to be published in the Times' Bay Area Section. A partnership with the Times has given the Citizen "instant credibility," the Chicago Reader remarked in a story about the Citizen's launch. But the Reader quotes David Greising, head a similar nonprofit news cooperative in Chicago, as saying:

"They are going to learn a lot about what it's like to deal with the New York Times, which will be an awakening for them, ... The Times has very exacting standards. It has taken us quite some time to really understand what the Times wants, and how our report fits into the rest of the Times national report."

Greising predicts that the Bay Citizen staff is in for "considerable discussion with their clients in New York."

Steven T. Jones, writing in the Bay Guardian, said he's heard some detractors in the local media grumble that the Citizen's presentation seemed “banal” and unworthy of their big budget.

"I don't agree," Jones writes, "Personally, I think The Bay Citizen strikes the right tone and balance, emphasizing solid journalism rather than flashy gimmicks, while also drawing on multimedia tools such as the video of yesterday's protests against President Obama's visit to SF."

On the eve of its launch, the Citizen announced that it had obtained $3.7 million in donations to supplement the $5 million in seed money from Hellman. The new money (actually some of it dates back to February, but wasn't revealed until now, according to the Business Times) came from the Don Fisher family, the Knight Foundation, Jeff and Laurie Ubben, Diane Wilsey, the S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation, Arthur Rock, Lynn Feintech and Anthony Bernhardt, and the San Francisco Foundation.

The Citizen said it has also raised $65,000 from more than 750 people who paid $50 or more to become founding members.

BA News Project CEO to make $400,000 a year

The SF Weekly is reporting that Lisa Frazier, the CEO of the new F. Warren Hellman-financed Bay Area News Project, will make $400,000 a year. Not bad for somebody who has no journalistic experience. She's a business and media consultant.

By comparison, former Wall Street Journal managing editor Paul Steiger, who heads the Herbert and Marion Sandler news nonprofit Pro Publica, was paid $570,000 in 2008, according to IRS documents.

The SF Weekly also reports:

Newsroom sources at KQED, meanwhile, told SF Weekly that unease over Frazier taking the CEO spot may have led to the station quitting the Bay Area News Project. Frazier had been initially tasked with searching for the person to fill the position she has now assumed.

Read more about the project's new editor below.

Bay Area News Project names CEO, editor

The F. Warren Hellman-funded Bay Area News Project announced today it has hired media and business consultant Lisa Frazier as its CEO and Jonathan Weber, co-founder of The Industry Standard and a former LA Times staff writer, as its editor.

The announcement also stated that the project will supply news for the Bay Area sections of The New York Times.

While the NYT's involvement had been discussed for months, with KQED's decision to withdraw from the project, there were questions about whether the Times would leave as well.

Weber said he intends to hire at least 15 full-time journalists by the end of the year.

Frazier has been involved with the News Project since April 2009, when Wells Fargo heir Hellman sought help developing a self-supporting model for local news in conjunction with the UC-Berkeley journalism school. She is currently a partner in McKinsey & Company's San Francisco office, where she specializes in media and entertainment.

"Frazier and Weber will now be focused on getting the new organization up and running," a press release said. "During the next several months they will be hiring editorial staff, building the Web site and other platforms, raising additional funds, deciding on the brand, and completing the search for a San Francisco office location.

"Over the next few months my plan is to start building a stellar newsroom to cover Bay Area government and politics, the arts, business, entertainment, community news and other topics," said Weber in the press release. "We'll also be working to develop a wide range of partnerships with other media organizations and individuals. Successful collaborations will be one of the keys to our success."

UPDATE, 8:01 P.M. THURSDAY: BayNewser has done an extensive interview with Weber, who says he'd like to have a newsroom of 30 to 40 people in three years. He also suggests that the project's relationship with The New York Times isn't fully scoped out.

BA News Project to name editor, CEO in January

The Bay Area News Project (that joint effort between the UC-Berkeley j-school, KQED and financier F. Warren Hellman) will announce its executive editor and CEO in January, Scott Walton of KQED says. "We have outstanding candidates but I can't give you a firm date except to let you know that we are confident about being able to do this soon. I think the launch will be pushed back a little bit but 2nd quarter of 2010 is still realistic," Walton tells the Press Club in an e-mail.

Nonprofit news project seeks CEO, editor

The Bay Area News Project (that nonprofit start-up involving Wells Fargo heir F. Warren Hellman (right), KQED, the Berkeley j-school) has posted help wanted ads for its chief executive and executive editor.

Neither posting gives a salary range.

Things the CEO is required to possess include an "ability to foster and encourage smart risk-taking and experimentation." The CEO must also be "a visionary with well-developed people management skills, strategic thinking, and a demonstrated ability to inspire."

The two-page job description for the editor says he or she will lead the project's "team in creating a new model for sustainable journalism that advances the latest technology, and experiments with innovative ways of engaging and interacting with the public, while retaining journalistic values and best practices."

Besides job listings, the project's Web site also has an FAQ. However, there is no mention on it about the possibility that local governments might provide some of the funding for the project. However, it does say that project will serve as a government watchdog.

In Chicago, a similar nonprofit news operation is starting with former LA Times and Chicago Tribune newsroom leader James O'Shea at the helm, according to Chicago Tribune media writer Phil Rosenthal. Like the Bay Area News Project, the "Chicago News Cooperative" intends on providing copy to the New York Times. The Times is doing local inserts in both cities.

In Chicago, there's no talk of government funding.

A major funding source is the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and CNC is looking for additional support from other foundations and individuals. The New York Times will pay CNC for the content it provides, as it does other news services. 

The goal of CNC is to generate enough revenue from multiple streams, such as membership fees, advertising and service, to be self-sustaining within five years.

Hellman eyes city funding for news project

Investment banker and Wells Fargo heir F. Warren Hellman told Forbes that he may seek funding from the city of San Francisco, and other governments, for the nonprofit news organization he's planning:

Forbes' Dirk Smillie asked Hellman: You're contributing $5 million from the Hellman Family Foundation to start this venture, but how will you make it sustainable?

Hellman replied:

"It will take a fair amount of money, raised annually. Contributions to public broadcasting in the Bay Area are up this year. We can sell memberships and get support from local and national government sources, wealthy individuals and some corporate backing. We may be able to get city funding. The mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, and the president of the board of supervisors, David Chiu, are very supportive of what we're doing."

Hellman's plan not a panacea to all

While much of the reaction to F. Warren Hellman's proposal to start a nonprofit to cover local news has been positive, Robert Gammon of the East Bay Express says it could hurt traditional news organizations.

"It's true that the Bay Area likely will experience an increase in local news coverage right away, but if the new venture forces traditional news organizations to further contract, then the public will be forced to increasingly depend on inexperienced, unpaid students to inform them about what's happening in the region.

The nonprofit will use UC Berkeley journalism students who will work for free. Gammon said the idea of a nonprofit news organization has merit, but using what amounts to slave labor to make it happen is bad for journalism."

Hellman forms nonprofit to cover local news

Investment banker and Wells Fargo heir F. Warren Hellman is teaming up with KQED and the UC-Berkeley J-school to create a nonprofit news organization to fill gaps in local news coverage left by the decline of the Chronicle and other daily papers. The Hellman Family Foundation is contributing $5 million to the Bay Area News Project, which is also in talks with The New York Times and other potential participants.

(Coverage: NYT, SF Business Times, Chronicle, AP and press release from Hellman.)

"We've lost a lot," Hellman told the Chron. He bemoaned dwindling reporting on subjects like the San Francisco Ballet, local business openings and vetting of political candidates. "We're going to be meeting an unmet need."

"I was appalled by how much the Chronicle has shrunk, how thin the Examiner is, and how little coverage there is for local news," he told AP. "I couldn't help but believe that local politics will be affected. We will have even weaker candidates than we have now with less local coverage, and it seemed to me there was something we could do about it."

Berkeley J-school dean Neil Henry told the AP that collaborating with Hellman makes sense both for the school and its 120 students, who already are producing stories for Web sites focused on seven San Francisco Bay area communities. Besides content for the new news venture, the journalism school expects to provide overall editorial guidance and possibly technological and fundraising expertise, Henry said.

Hellman working on new business model

San Francisco financier and Wells Fargo heir F. Warren Hellman and “a team of business and media experts” are working on a plan to develop a new business model for community journalism. In a statement to the San Francisco Business Times, he said the group has adopted a two-month timeline for completing the first stages of exploring options that could have implications throughout the journalistic world.

“If we can conceptualize a model and bring it to life here, the world will take notice,” Hellman said.

Hellman said many options are on the table, including a nonprofit model, expanding into unspecified new print or online directions, for-profit, or a web-only, online-ad-driven model. Or, “Should we do nothing?”

SF heavyweights discuss a nonprofit Chron

The Chronicle is reporting that a number of local powerbrokers, including Mayor Gavin Newsom, got together this week to discuss the idea of turning the Chronicle into a nonprofit operation, but Hearst continues to say it's not interested.

Attendees included Wells Fargo heir F. Warren Hellman, former Chronicle publisher and Chamber of Commerce head Steve Falk, Farallon Capital executive Margaret Sullivan, former Chron managing editor Robert Rosenthal and Chron Guild leader Carl Hall. Nobody from Chronicle management attended. The Chron story stated:

Among ideas floated at the meeting were converting the newspaper into a nonprofit or into what's known as an L3C, a low-profit limited liability company whose main role is helping society rather than making money, according to several attendees. There also was some talk of using existing newsroom staff and resources to form a separate, nonprofit online media operation covering the area, those people said. ...

Hellman "was there to ask people about how a nonprofit might work and the challenges facing the newspaper industry," he said.

• March 23: Plan hatched to turn Chron into a nonprofit

Plan hatched to turn Chron into a nonprofit

San Francisco investment banker and Wells Fargo heir F. Warren Hellman and other business leaders have asked Hearst Corp. to consider turning the Chronicle into a nonprofit, the San Francisco Business Times reports.

San Francisco attorney Bill Coblentz, after discussing the idea with Hellman, conveyed the plan to William R. Hearst III, who is a Hearst Corp. director and an affiliated partner with the Sand Hill Road venture capital powerhouse Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

The proposal would be for a nonprofit corporation "to take over the Chronicle," with Hearst Corp. continuing to provide some philanthropic support. The paper has reportedly been losing $1 million or more a week for the past several years.

When the Business Times asked Publisher Frank Vega about it, he said, “I’m not aware of any discussions whatsoever about us becoming a nonprofit,” before hanging up abruptly.

Former Chron publisher Steve Falk, now CEO of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, said he has talked to Hellman and other San Francisco business leaders “in very general terms” about possible ways to save the paper. He said he wasn’t familiar with the nonprofit proposal, but he knows Hellman and other leaders “are very concerned about the (Chron’s) possible demise.”

Falk said it is more likely that the Chronicle and MediaNews might combine their Sunday editions if the get an antitrust waiver from the Obama Justice Department. Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pushing for such an exemption.

Correction: Originally we attributed this information to the San Francisco Business Journal. Obviously it is the San Francisco Business Times.