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The ''Washington City Paper'' is a
U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
alternative weekly An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting l ...
newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
serving the
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, metropolitan area. The ''City Paper'' is distributed on Thursdays; its average circulation in 2006 was 85,588. The paper's editorial mix is focused on local news and arts. Its 2018 circulation figure was 47,000.


History

The ''Washington City Paper'' was started in 1981 by Russ Smith and Alan Hirsch, the owners of the ''
Baltimore City Paper ''Baltimore City Paper'' was a free alternative weekly newspaper published in Baltimore, Maryland, founded in 1977 by Russ Smith and Alan Hirsch. The most recent owner was the Baltimore Sun Media Group, which purchased the paper in 2014 from ...
''. For its first year it was called ''1981''. The name was changed to ''City Paper'' in January 1982 and in December 1982 Smith and Hirsch sold 80% of it to
Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by a ...
, Inc. In 1988,
Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by a ...
, Inc. acquired the remaining 20% interest. In July 2007 both the ''Washington City Paper'' and the ''
Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by a ...
'' were sold to the Tampa-based
Creative Loafing Creative Loafing is an Atlanta-based publisher of a monthly arts and culture newspaper/magazine. The company publishes a 60,000 circulation monthly publication which is distributed to in-town locations and neighborhoods on the first Thursday of ...
chain. In 2012, '' Creative Loafing Atlanta'' and the ''Washington City Paper'' were sold to
SouthComm Communications SouthComm Communications was a media company that owned a number of alternative newspapers and other news sources in the United States such as the ''Nashville Scene'' and the ''Washington City Paper''. It was based in Nashville, Tennessee. Sout ...
. 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 Erik Wemple is an American journalist who works as a columnist and media critic at ''The Washington Post''. He was formerly the editor of the alternative weekly ''Washington City Paper''. Early life Wemple was raised in Niskayuna, New York, and a ...
resigned to run the new local startup
TBD To be announced (TBA), to be confirmed (TBC), to be determined or decided or declared (TBD), and other variations, are placeholder terms used very broadly in event planning to indicate that although something is scheduled or expected to happen, a ...
. 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 Daniel Marc Snyder (born November 23, 1964) is an American businessman and owner of the Washington Commanders, an American football team belonging to the National Football League (NFL). He bought the team, then known as the Washington Redskins, ...
, the owner of the
Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...
, 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. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...
passed anti-
SLAPP Strategic lawsuits against public participation (also known as SLAPP suits or intimidation lawsuits), or strategic litigation against public participation, are lawsuits intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with ...
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 Snyder Communications Inc. (SNC) was an American advertising corporation founded in 1988 by Daniel Snyder and his sister Michelle Snyder. Their activities were mainly outsourced marketing services, such as direct marketing, database marketing, pro ...
and GTE Communications was not meant to be construed as, by Snyder himself, but people who worked for Snyder Communications and GTE Communications.


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 Savage Love is a syndicated sex-advice column by Dan Savage. The column appears weekly in several dozen newspapers, mainly free newspapers in the US and Canada, but also newspapers in Europe and Asia. It started in 1991 with the first issue of t ...
, by
Dan Savage Daniel Keenan Savage (born October 7, 1964) is an American author, media pundit, journalist, and LGBT community activist. He writes ''Savage Love'', an internationally syndicated relationship and sex advice column. In 2010, Savage and his husba ...


Notable former staffers

* David Carr – Former staff writer, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''; author, ''The Night of the Gun'' *
Jake Tapper Jacob Paul Tapper (born March 12, 1969) is an American journalist, author, and cartoonist. He is the lead Washington anchor for CNN, hosts the weekday television news show '' The Lead with Jake Tapper'', and co-hosts the Sunday morning public a ...
– Chief Washington correspondent,
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
*
Ta-Nehisi Coates Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates ( ; born September 30, 1975) is an American author and journalist. He gained a wide readership during his time as national correspondent at ''The Atlantic'', where he wrote about cultural, social, and political issues, parti ...
– National correspondent, ''
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
''; author, ''
Between the World and Me ''Between the World and Me'' is a 2015 nonfiction book written by American author Ta-Nehisi Coates and published by Spiegel & Grau. It is written as a letter to the author's teenage son about the feelings, symbolism, and realities associated wi ...
''; MacArthur "Genius" grant recipient *
Katherine Boo Katherine "Kate" J. Boo (born August 12, 1964) is an American investigative journalist who has documented the lives of people in poverty. She has won the MacArthur "genius" award (2002) and the National Book Award for Nonfiction (2012), and her wo ...
– Author, ''
Behind the Beautiful Forevers ''Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity'' is a non-fiction book written by the Pulitzer Prize-winner Katherine Boo in 2012. It won the National Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize among many others ...
''; MacArthur "Genius" grant recipient *
Erik Wemple Erik Wemple is an American journalist who works as a columnist and media critic at ''The Washington Post''. He was formerly the editor of the alternative weekly ''Washington City Paper''. Early life Wemple was raised in Niskayuna, New York, and a ...
– Media critic, ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' *
Jack Shafer Jack Shafer (born November 14, 1957) is an American journalist who writes about media for ''Politico''. Prior to joining ''Politico'', he worked for Reuters and also edited and wrote the column'' "''Press Box" for ''Slate'', an online magazine. B ...
– Senior media writer,
Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...
; former columnist,
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...
; former columnist, ''
Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
'' * Amanda Hess – Staff writer, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''; former staff writer,
Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
* Dave McKenna – Staff writer,
Deadspin ''Deadspin'' is a sports blog founded by Will Leitch in 2005 and based in Chicago. Previously owned by Gawker Media and Univision Communications, it is currently owned by G/O Media. ''Deadspin'' posted daily previews, recaps, and commentaries o ...
*
David Plotz David A. Plotz (born 31 January 1970) is an American journalist and former CEO of ''Atlas Obscura'', an online magazine devoted to discovery and exploration. A writer with ''Slate'' since its inception in 1996, Plotz was the online magazine's edit ...
– CEO,
Atlas Obscura ''Atlas Obscura'' is an American-based online magazine and travel company. It was founded in 2009 by author Joshua Foer and documentary filmmaker/author Dylan Thuras. It catalogs unusual and obscure travel destinations via user-generated conten ...
; co-host,
Slate Political Gabfest The ''Slate Political Gabfest'' is an American political podcast by '' Slate'' magazine that covers topics on current politics and issues featuring David Plotz, Emily Bazelon and John Dickerson. Podcast The show is usually hosted by former ...
; former staff writer,
Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
*
Jelani Cobb William Jelani Cobb (born August 21, 1969)
''Contemporary Black Biography''. Gale, 2005, updated January 4, 2007. Vi ...
– Staff writer, ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' *
Clara Jeffery Clara Jeffery (born August 25, 1967) is the editor in chief of '' Mother Jones''. Career Jeffery was born in Baltimore, Maryland and was raised in Arlington, Virginia, and attended the Sidwell Friends School (1985), before going to Carleton Colle ...
– Editor-in-chief, ''
Mother Jones Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...
'' * Kara Swisher – Co-founder, Recode * Jason Cherkis – Reporter,
HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
*
Neil Drumming Neil Drumming is an American journalist and filmmaker. Formerly a producer with the radio show ''This American Life'', in 2020 Drumming became managing editor with Serial Productions, the company that created the podcasts ''Serial'' and '' S-Town' ...
– Producer,
This American Life ''This American Life'' (''TAL'') is an American monthly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internation ...
* Amanda Ripley – Journalist and author * Michael Schaffer – Editor, '' Washingtonian'' * Brett Anderson – Contributing writer, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''; former restaurant critic,
The Times-Picayune ''The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate'' is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana, since January 25, 1837. The current publication is the result of the 2019 acquisition of ''The Times-Picayune'' (itself a result of ...
* Tom Scocca – Deputy executive editor, Special Projects Desk,
Gizmodo Media Group Gizmodo Media Group was an online media company and blog network formerly operated by Univision Communications (now TelevisaUnivision) in its Fusion Media Group division. The company was created from assets acquired from Gawker Media during its b ...
* Christina Cauterucci – Staff writer,
Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
* Lydia DePillis – Economics reporter, CNNMoney; former economics reporter,
Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With it ...
; former business reporter,
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
* Jonathan Fischer – Senior editor,
Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
* Josh Levin – Executive editor,
Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
* Jessica Sidman – Food editor, '' Washingtonian'' * Mike DeBonis - Reporter, ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' * Alan Suderman, Virginia statehouse reporter,
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
* Will Sommer - Reporter,
The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...
*
Shani Hilton Shani Olisa Hilton (born 1986) is an American journalist and media executive, currently working as the Deputy Managing Editor at the ''Los Angeles Times''. Prior to the Times, Hilton was the executive editor at BuzzFeed News. Early life Growing ...
– Deputy Managing Editor, ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' * Perry Stein - Reporter, ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
''{{Cite web , date=10 September 2022 , title=Perry Stein , url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/perry-stein/ , url-status=live , access-date=10 September 2022 , website=The Washington Post


References


External links


''Washington City Paper''

''Ink Well Crosswords''
Alternative weekly newspapers published in the United States Newspapers published in Washington, D.C. Publications established in 1981