''Metro'' is a free weekly newspaper published by the
San Jose, California
San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...
, based
Metro Newspapers
Metro Newspapers, now known as Weeklys, is an American newspaper company based in San Jose, California.
It publishes five free alternative weekly newspapers in Northern California: ''Metro Silicon Valley'', ''Good Times'', the '' Pacific Sun'', ...
. Also known as ''Metro Silicon Valley'', as well as ''Metroactive'' online, the paper serves the greater
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Count ...
area. In addition to print form, ''Metro'' can be downloaded in
PDF
Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
format for free from the publisher's website. ''Metro'' also keeps tabs on local politics and the "chattering" class of San Jose through its weekly column, The Fly.
The newspaper has been published since 1985 and is one of the remaining owner-operated publications in the alternative press. Its principal distribution area encompasses the cities of San Jose,
Los Gatos
Los Gatos (, ; ) is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population is 33,529 according to the 2020 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area just southwest of San Jose in the foothills of th ...
,
Campbell,
Saratoga,
Santa Clara,
Sunnyvale
Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwest Santa Clara County in the U.S. state of California.
Sunnyvale lies along the historic El Camino Real and Highway 101 and is bordered by portions of San Jose to the north ...
,
Cupertino
Cupertino ( ) is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, directly west of San Jose on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley with portions extending into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The population was 57,8 ...
,
Milpitas
Milpitas (Spanish for "little milpas") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in Silicon Valley. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 80,273. The city's origins lie in Rancho Milpitas, granted to Californio ranchero José Mar ...
,
Mountain View,
Los Altos and
Palo Alto
Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto.
The city was es ...
.
Entertainment and investigative journalism
''Metro'' is largely read for its coverage of the San Jose region's culture and entertainment scene. It publishes an exhaustive arts section, which includes calendar listings, music reviews, critical coverage of the performing and visual arts, as well as movie reviews and information. The newspaper has employed well-regarded film critic
Richard von Busack since 1985.
Steve Palopoli
''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen
Notable people with the name include:
steve jops
* Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people
* Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people
* Steve ...
edited the publication from March 2005 until December 2008 and currently edits
''Good Times''.
In 1986, Metro published the last interview with
Don Hoefler
Donald C. Hoefler (October 3, 1922 – April 15, 1986) was an American journalist, well known for using the term " Silicon Valley" for the first time in print. His friend Ralph Vaerst suggested the name "Silicon Valley" in a series of articles en ...
, the man credited with naming Silicon Valley. ''Metro'' has scooped the daily press on a number of major stories, including the office romance of San Jose Mayor
Ron Gonzales in 2000 and the Santa Clara County Grand Jury's plans to indict Gonzales in June 2006.
In 1996, Metro's “Public Eye” column scooped Apple's December 20 announcement of a deal between
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; ...
’
NeXT
Next may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare
* ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage
* '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film
Lit ...
Inc. and
Apple Inc.
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...
that led to Jobs’ return to Apple.
In 2007, ''Metro'' and its sister publication
North Bay Bohemian
The ''North Bay Bohemian'' is a weekly newspaper published in the North Bay subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area, in California, United States. The newspaper is distributed in Sonoma and Napa counties.
The newspaper began publication in 197 ...
prompted Sen.
Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein ( ; born Dianne Emiel Goldman; June 22, 1933) is an American politician who serves as the senior United States senator from California, a seat she has held since 1992. A member of the Democratic Party, she was ...
’s resignation from the U.S. Senate's Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee after the two papers published an exposé by Peter Byrne documenting Feinstein's conflicts of interest related to husband Richard C. Blum's ownership interest in two major defense contractors, firms that received billions of dollars in contracts for military construction projects that were approved during Feinstein's tenure on the subcommittee.
In 2012, ''Metro'' published a series of articles on Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors chair George Shirakawa, Jr., who had failed to file legally required campaign disclosure statements and had not turned in receipts for 175 taxpayer-underwritten meal charges. The disclosures resulted in an investigation by the Fair Political Practices Commission and the Santa Clara County District Attorney's office. Shirakawa pleaded guilty on March 1, 2013 to five felonies and seven misdemeanors and resigned his office. Assistant District Attorney Karyn Sinunu Towery credited ''Metro''’s reports with prompting the criminal investigation at the press conference announcing the plea and resignation. The House Committee on Ethics investigated Rep.
Mike Honda
Michael Makoto "Mike" Honda (born June 27, 1941) is an American politician and former educator. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in Congress from 2001 to 2017.
Initially involved in education in California, he first became active in ...
following revelations in Metro that contributors were receiving favors from the congressman's office.
Notable alumni
The newspaper has helped launch the careers of several notable writers, including British television journalist
Louis Theroux
Louis Sebastian Theroux (; born 20 May 1970) is a British-American documentarian, journalist, broadcaster, and author. He has received two British Academy Television Awards and a Royal Television Society Television Award.
After graduating fr ...
, author
Jonathan Vankin
Jonathan Vankin is an American author, journalist and comic book writer/editor.
Biography
Vankin is best known for his books '' Conspiracies, Cover-Ups and Crimes'' and, with co-writer John Whalen, the '' Greatest Conspiracies'' series, beginning ...
, Vietnamese-American author
Andrew Pham
Andrew X. Pham is a Vietnamese-born American author who is the founder of Spoonwiz.
Extended biography
Born in Phan Thiet in 1967, Pham's father Thong was a teacher and his mother a laundress. Pham had two sisters, Chi and Kay, and three younger ...
, Obama administration education advisor
Hal Plotkin, News Director of Vice News Michael Learmonth, and film producer
Zack Stentz
Zackary Lowell Stentz is an American writer and producer of film and television, journalist, novelist, and teacher, best known for his work on Marvel properties with former writing partner Ashley Edward Miller.
Career
Stentz graduated from U ...
It also published the writings of
Michelle Goldberg
Michelle Goldberg (born 1975)"Michelle Goldberg". Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2016. Retrieved via Biography in Context database, January 28, 2017. is an American journalist and author, and an op-ed columnist for ''The New York Tim ...
, six-word memoirist
Larry Smith and
Dave Eggers
Dave Eggers (born March 12, 1970) is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He wrote the 2000 best-selling memoir ''A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius''. Eggers is also the founder of ''Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern'', a lite ...
before they became published authors. It was also one of the first newspapers to publish
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram Groening ( ; born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is the creator of the comic strip '' Life in Hell'' (1977–2012) and the television series ''The Simpsons'' (1989–present), '' F ...
's ''
Life in Hell
''Life in Hell'' is a comic strip by Matt Groening, creator of ''The Simpsons'', '' Futurama'', and ''Disenchantment'', which was published weekly from 1977 to 2012. The strip features anthropomorphic rabbits and a gay couple. The comic covers ...
'' long before he created
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
.
Community involvement
In 1986, ''Metro'' executive editor
Dan Pulcrano
Dan Pulcrano (born c. 1959) is a journalist, editor, publisher and newspaper group owner in Northern California. He is CEO and executive editor of ''Metro Silicon Valley'', Silicon Valley's alternative newsweekly, as well as its sister publicati ...
co-founded with Ray Rodriguez the San Jose Downtown Association and led the effort to start Music in the Park, a free public music festival that lasted until 2011 and staged performances by such groups as Neon Trees, Camper, Billy Preston, the BoDeans, Tower of Power and the Tubes.
The San Jose Jazz Society was started by ''Metro'' jazz writer Sammy Cohen and headquartered in Metro's office. The outgrowth was the annual San Jose Jazz Festival.
During the 1990s, ''Metro'' purchased community newspapers from companies such as the Tribune Company and established Silicon Valley Community Newspapers, which it sold in 2001.
''Metro'' was the first to call for a Sunshine Ordinance during the 1998 mayor's race. An ordinance was passed in 2009.
In explaining the newspaper's mission on its 20th anniversary, executive editor Pulcrano said, “We have championed independent businesses and small theaters in an effort to help the valley establish its own cultural identity. We have pushed for preservation of historic buildings and agricultural lands that represent the valley’s heritage and soul. And we have promoted sensible, pedestrian-oriented development that gets people out of their cars so they can get to know one another. A newspaper at its best should be a community-builder.”
In 2012, ''Metro'' sponsored the Silicon Valley Sound Experience, a multi-venue music festival, which led to the establishment of Creative Convergence Silicon Valley, or
C2SV
Creative Convergence Silicon Valley, or C2SV, was an annual multi-day music festival and technology conference held each fall in San Jose, California, United States from 2012 to 2016. It was founded in 2012 as the Silicon Valley Sound eXperience ( ...
, the following year. The 2013 event included performances by Iggy and The Stooges and a three-day technology conference with appearances by
Steve Wozniak
Stephen Gary Wozniak (; born August 11, 1950), also known by his nickname "Woz", is an American electronics engineer, computer programmer, philanthropist, inventor, and technology entrepreneur. In 1976, with business partner Steve Jobs, he c ...
,
Nolan Bushnell
Nolan Kay Bushnell (born February 5, 1943) is an American businessman and electrical engineer. He established Atari, Inc. and the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre chain. He has been inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame and the Consum ...
and
John McAfee. The 2015 C2SV brought camera phone inventor
Philippe Kahn
Philippe Kahn (born March 16, 1952) is an engineer, entrepreneur and founder of four technology companies: Borland, Starfish Software, LightSurf Technologies, and Fullpower Technologies. Kahn is credited with creating the first camera phone, b ...
and Oculus VR co-inventor
Jack McCauley
Jack McCauley is an American engineer, hardware designer, inventor, video game developer and philanthropist. As an engineer at Activision, he designed the guitars and drums for the Guitar Hero video game series and was the Chief Engineer at Oc ...
to the stage of the California Theatre.
Awards
''Metro'' has received several awards for its work, including:
* Three papers in the Metro Newspapers group won at the
National Newspaper Association
The National Newspaper Association (NNA) is a Pensacola, FL based non-profit newspaper trade association founded in 1885. The organization has over 2,300 members, making it the largest newspaper trade association in the United States. The organiza ...
's 1995 contest, announced September 1996.
* ''Metro'' won two awards, for editorial cartooning and writing, at the
California Newspaper Publishers Association
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
Better Newspapers Awards, July 1996
* Six papers in the Metro Newspapers group were honored for writing, editing and design at the
California Newspaper Publishers Association
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
Better Newspapers Awards, July 1997.
* Metro staff writer J. Douglas Allen-Taylor received first place in the Peninsula Press Club's 1997 Professional Journalism Awards Competition for specialty story detailing how the malt liquor industry, after achieving success marketing to black communities, set its sights on the Latino youth market.
* Metro staff writer Will Harper received an honorable mention in the Peninsula Press Club's 1997 Professional Journalism Awards Competition for feature story, weeklies ("The New Jesus").
* ''Metro Silicon Valley'' won two awards, in lifestyle coverage and freedom of information, at the
California Newspaper Publishers Association
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
Better Newspapers Awards, July 2004.
* ''Metro Silicon Valley'' won two awards at the
California Newspaper Publishers Association
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
Better Newspapers Awards, October 2008.
* ''Metro Silicon Valley''’s Nick Veronin won SPJ NorCal Excellence in Journalism Award: Arts & Culture at the Society of Professional Journalists, NorCal Chapter in October 2016 for his “Radius Clause” feature, which revealed how the music industry's anticompetitive practices put a damper on Silicon Valley nightlife.
* ''Metro'' Freelancer John Flynn won a Society of Professional Journalists Norcal award for “Lost in Translation,” an investigation into the scarcity of interpreters in Santa Clara County's justice system and how that shortage impacts the rights of non-English speakers.
Early online player
''Metro'' was an early participant in the online publishing revolution, launching the Livewire online service in 1993, one of the first online efforts by a non-daily newspaper publisher. The service offered free email accounts, online commerce, chats, posting forums and online articles.
Virtual Valley
Virtual may refer to:
* Virtual (horse), a thoroughbred racehorse
* Virtual channel, a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel (or range of frequencies) on which the signal travels
* Virtual function, a programmi ...
, a similar service with an emphasis on covering Silicon Valley communities, was launched the following year and helped put the city governments of San Jose, Milpitas and Los Gatos online. Also in 1994, Metro established
Boulevards
A boulevard is a type of broad avenue planted with rows of trees, or in parts of North America, any urban highway.
Boulevards were originally circumferential roads following the line of former city walls.
In American usage, boulevards may b ...
, a network of city guides that pre-dated
Citysearch
Citysearch is an online city guide that provides information about businesses in the categories of dining, entertainment, retail, travel, and professional services in cities throughout the United States. Visitors to each of Citysearch's local cit ...
and Microsoft's short-lived "Sidewalk" service.
In 1995, ''Metro'' launched the online version of the newspaper under the brand Metroactive.
References
External links
About Metro Newspapers (official site)Metroactive web site''Metro Silicon Valley''SV411 Silicon Valley Newsblog''Metro'': PDF edition''Metro''s "Boulevards" city site, SanJose.comSan Jose Inside
{{Metro Newspapers
Newspapers published in San Jose, California
Alternative weekly newspapers published in the United States
Publications established in 1985
1985 establishments in California
Weekly newspapers published in California