Washington City Paper

History

The Washington City Paper was started in 1981 by Russ Smith and Alan Hirsch, the owners of the Baltimore City Paper. For its first year it was called 1981: Washington's Alternative Newspaper. The name was changed to City Paper in January 1982 and in December 1982 Smith and Hirsch sold 80% of it to Chicago Reader, Inc. In 1988, Chicago Reader, Inc. acquired the remaining 20% interest. In July 2007 both the Washington City Paper and the Chicago Reader were sold to the Tampa-based Creative Loafing chain. In 2012, Creative Loafing Atlanta and the Washington City Paper were sold to SouthComm Communications.

Amy Austin, the longtime general manager, was promoted to publisher in 2003. Michael Schaffer was named editor in April, 2010, two months after Erik Wemple resigned to run the new local startup TBD.

On December 21, 2017, it was announced that D.C.-area venture capitalist and philanthropist Mark Ein would buy the City Paper. He became the first D.C.-based owner in the paper's history. Ein announced the creation of two groups to ensure the paper's long-term success: "Alumni Group" and "Friends of Washington City Paper."

Defamation lawsuit

In 2011, Daniel Snyder, the owner of the Washington Redskins, filed a lawsuit against the City Paper for The Cranky Redskins Fan's Guide to Dan Snyder, a November 19, 2010 cover story that portrayed him in a negative light. He and the Simon Wiesenthal Center claimed that the story used anti-Semitic tropes. Prominent sports journalists, Jewish groups, and Jewish writers published sharp criticism of Snyder and the Simon Wiesenthal Center's claims of anti-Semitism, referring in various opinion pieces and public statements to their statements as, "breathtakingly dumb allegation", "almost unbearably stupid", and "so self-evidently lacking in merit".

The Washington City Paper issued its own response in a published editorial, saying, "But we at City Paper take accusations of anti-Semitism seriously—in part because many of us are Jewish, including staffers who edited the story and designed the cover. So let us know, Mr. Snyder, when you want to fight the real anti-Semites."

In response, hundreds of loyal readers donated over $30,000 to a legal defense fund.

In September 2011 the lawsuit was dropped, after, in December 2010, Washington D.C. passed anti-SLAPP legislation ("David Donovan, the Redskins' former chief operating officer and general counsel, that threatened an expensive legal battle unless Snyder received a retraction and an apology"), while also, Amy Austin, the publisher, had written in a February article that unauthorized switching of long-distance accounts by Snyder Communications and GTE Communications was not meant to be construed as, by Snyder himself, but people who worked for Snyder Communications and GTE Communications. |archive-date=8 April 2011 |url-status=dead}}

Contents

Regular City Paper features include:

• a cover feature, 2,500 to 12,000 words in length
• an arts feature, 1,200 to 2,000 words in length
• The District Line, a section of shorter news features about D.C.
• Loose Lips, a news column and blog devoted to D.C. local politics
• Young & Hungry, a food column and blog
• Housing Complex, a real estate column and blog
• Music, theater, film, gallery, and book reviews by various writers
• City Lights, a section comprising critics' events picks.

Also published is one syndicated feature:

• Savage Love, by Dan Savage

Notable former staffers

• David Carr – Former staff writer, The New York Times; author, The Night of the Gun
• Jake Tapper – Chief Washington correspondent, CNN
• Ta-Nehisi Coates – National correspondent, The Atlantic; author, Between the World and Me; MacArthur "Genius" grant recipient
• Katherine Boo – Author, Behind the Beautiful Forevers; MacArthur "Genius" grant recipient
• Erik Wemple – Media critic, The Washington Post
• Jack Shafer – Senior media writer, Politico; former columnist, Reuters; former columnist, Slate
• Amanda Hess – Staff writer, The New York Times; former staff writer, Slate
• Dave McKenna – Staff writer, Deadspin
• David Plotz – CEO, Atlas Obscura; co-host, Slate Political Gabfest; former staff writer, Slate
• Jelani Cobb – Staff writer, The New Yorker
• Clara Jeffery – Editor-in-chief, Mother Jones
• Kara Swisher – Co-founder, Recode
• Jason Cherkis – Reporter, HuffPost
• Neil Drumming – Producer, This American Life
• Amanda Ripley – Journalist and author
• Michael Schaffer – Editor, Washingtonian
• Brett Anderson – Contributing writer, The New York Times;{{cite web|title=Food's New Contributing Writer
• Tom Scocca – Deputy executive editor, Special Projects Desk, Gizmodo Media Group
• Christina Cauterucci – Staff writer, Slate
• Lydia DePillis – Economics reporter, CNNMoney; former economics reporter, Houston Chronicle; former business reporter, The Washington Post
• Jonathan Fischer – Senior editor, Slate
• Josh Levin – Executive editor, Slate
• Jessica Sidman – Food editor, Washingtonian
• Mike DeBonis – Reporter, The Washington Post
• Alan Suderman, Virginia statehouse reporter, Associated Press
• Will Sommer – Reporter, The Daily Beast
• Shani Hilton – Deputy Managing Editor, Los Angeles Times
• Perry Stein – Reporter, The Washington Post

Notes

References

References

1. "Annual Audit Report, December 2011". [[Verified Audit Circulation]].
2. "City Paper (Washington, D.C.) 1982-1988". [[Library of Congress]].
3. Lowman, Stephen. (August 9, 2009). "City Talk: The key players of Washington's influential and controversial weekly paper look back on its legacy". Washington Post.
4. Celeste, Eric. (2012-07-03). "Nashville-based media company SouthComm acquires Creative Loafing Atlanta and Washington City Paper". Clatl.com.
5. Shott, Chris. (2010-04-27). "Michael Schaffer is New Editor of Washington City Paper".
6. Mills, Alexa. (21 December 2017). "Long Live City Paper". Washington City Paper.
7. Shapiro, Ari. (22 December 2017). "'Washington City Paper' Will Continue To Offer Local News With New Owner". NPR.org.
8. Beaujon, Andrew. (2017-12-21). "Mark Ein Buys Washington City Paper". Washingtonian.
9. (2 February 2011). "To Our Readers".
10. (2011-02-03). "Wiesenthal Center Out-of-Bounds on Snyder".
11. (31 December 2016). "Burke v. John Doe No. 1".
12. "Washington City Paper - D.C. Arts, News, Food and Living".
13. Sommer, Will. "Loose Lips - All About D.C. Politics". Washingtoncitypaper.com.
14. Pipkin, Whitney. "Young & Hungry - D.C. Restaurants and Food". Washingtoncitypaper.com.
15. Wiener, Aaron. "Housing Complex - D.C. Real Estate, Development, and Urbanism". Washingtoncitypaper.com.
16. (14 September 2017). "The David Carr Generation".
17. Coates, Ta-Nehisi. (19 February 2015). "In Memory of David Carr, Who Made Me a Journalist". The Atlantic.
18. (14 July 2015). "The Paper Where Ta-Nehisi Coates Learned the Ropes".
19. "The 60-second interview: Erik Wemple, Washington Post media critic".
20. (9 January 2015). "Press critic Jack Shafer to join Politico".
21. "Amanda Hess to be Keynote Speaker at Raliance Media Summit".
22. "Deadspin hires Dave McKenna for the ESPN beat".
23. (2 February 2011). "Washington NFL Owner Daniel Snyder Finds Another Embarrassing, No-Win Project to Spend His Money On".
24. "Who We Are".
25. (30 September 2017). "Houston Chronicle econ reporter DePillis leaves for CNNMoney".
26. Beaujon, Andrew. (2017-06-02). "Three Ideas for Saving Washington City Paper*". Washingtonian.
27. "Mike DeBonis joins congressional team". The Washington Post.
28. "AP hires Alan Suderman as Va. statehouse reporter".
29. (16 May 2018). "Daily Beast hires Sommer to cover tech and digital culture".
30. (3 April 2019). "Los Angeles Times Names Shani Hilton Deputy Managing Editor".
31. (10 September 2022). "Perry Stein". The Washington Post.