ABOUT THE CITIZEN
The Atlanta Citizen was founded in October 2009 by journalist, technologist and returned Peace Corps volunteer Jamie Ward . New content through original reporting began appearing in January 2010. Jamie called the online publication The Atlanta Citizen because that’s exactly who Jamie intended to serve, the citizen’s of the state of Georgia living in and around sprawling metropolitan Atlanta.
WHY DO WE DO THIS?
Because with distrust for the media at an all time high and newspapers folding all over the country, Jamie believed it was necessary in the 21st century “digital age” (not to mention the age of government bailouts and high unemployment), to increase civic involvement and engagement in his community by providing honest, straight-forward, objective and independent news reporting — a return to the journalist being America’s fourth estate, so to speak. The idea was this public service to the community would hopefully enable other people in that community to stay better informed of the local issues that might be affecting them as Atlanta Citizens. After successful careers in both information technology and journalism, Jamie’s vision became this Web publication — The Atlanta Citizen, an independent nonprofit news source for the people.
Because Jamie formerly worked as a newspaper reporter in Gwinnett County, that area and some additional surrounding areas of North Fulton County, Cobb County and DeKalb County are where he decided to concentrate his initial reporting efforts.
THE MISSION:
To focus on daily news while also providing the community with a public affairs watch on its elected officials at the local, state and national level. In essence, Jamie wanted to serve the community by giving it the watchdog journalism and analysis that local newspapers were no longer providing enough of. This included calling foul when foul is suspected and conducting investigative reports into public documents when necessary. It also entailed questioning elected officials and constitutional officers about their actions, votes and decisions. Coming from the newspaper world, Jamie was amazed at much he saw in his work reporters merely rewriting press releases for government offices. That’s not journalism, that’s promoting propoganda. Jamie’s goal in all of this was to provide reliable, independent, fact-based information on an almost-daily basis.
Because of the editorial beliefs of The Atlanta Citizen, it will never endorse political candidates or current, elected officials. On the other hand, The Atlanta Citizen will watch like a hawk all sitting officials and the actions they take in addition to those who seek office to replace them. How taxpayer dollars are spent is of great importance to The Atlanta Citizen, in addition to the well being of the entire citizenry.
DISCLAIMER
It’s important to remember that The Atlanta Citizen is a new venture that will constantly be evolving and changing in 2010 and probably 2011 and beyond. In a constantly evolving digital platform, there is no formula for the future of journalism and how it will work and better serve and continue to serve American society. But SERVING America’s metro Atlantan society is exactly what The Atlanta Citizen is about. So let us know how we can better serve you and the public. WE ARE LISTENING AND WE ARE HERE TO SERVE! As a new media venture, we want to rebuild trust with the people living and working among us. By doing that, we can all live, work and play together in harmony.
Please also note, The Atlanta Citizen is a Georgia-registered Limited Liability Company (LLC). The ultimate goal of the organization is to become a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) that covers the entire 10-county metro area as defined by the Atlanta Regional Commission in addition to the city of Atlanta. But Jamie felt it important to provide content first and worry about the official details later, the thought being the nonprofit status courtesy of the IRS would hopefully be completed by summer 2010.
CORRECTION POLICY
It is the Citizen’s goal to provide fact-based information. If you believe something in a story is factually incorrect, please post a comment or send an e-mail to Jamie directly at jamie@theatlantacitizen.com. If something is incorrect, the Citizen will make the necessary change. The only section where opinion should appear is the Weekend Commentary section.
