''Snitch'' was a free,

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 ...

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, 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 poli ...

published in parts of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

covering

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

and

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

news. Perhaps the most notable feature was the ZIP Code Crime Watch, which gave brief, usually

sarcastic Sarcasm is the caustic use of words, often in a humorous way, to mock someone or something. Sarcasm may employ ambivalence, although it is not necessarily ironic. Most noticeable in spoken word, sarcasm is mainly distinguished by the inflectio ...

commentary on hundreds of items in the weekly police reports, broken down by ZIP codes, along with crime totals for the respective areas. Snitch also ran numerous crime-themed articles in each issue, as well as advertisements and classifieds.

History

Joseph Grove, a journalist in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

, developed the concept in 2000 with co-founders Mary Jacobson and Tim Sanford. The concept was inspired by a reference in ''Genius in Disguise'' (1995), Thomas Kunkel's biography of ''

New Yorker New Yorker may refer to: * A resident of New York: ** A resident of New York City and its suburbs *** List of people from New York City ** A resident of the New York (state), State of New York *** Demographics of New York (state) * ''The New Yor ...

'' founder

Harold Ross Harold Wallace Ross (November 6, 1892 – December 6, 1951) was an American journalist who co-founded ''The New Yorker'' magazine in 1925 with his wife Jane Grant, and was its editor-in-chief until his death. Early life Born in a prospector' ...

, who had briefly contemplated starting a dedicated crime newspaper in New York City. ''Snitch'' was started in

, and the ''Media Audit'' showed 211,000 readers as of January 2005. There were also editions of the paper in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...

Northern Kentucky Northern Kentucky is an urban area in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky consisting of the southern part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. The three main counties of the area are Boone County, Kentucky, Boone, Kent ...

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Brita ...

, and

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

. In December 2004, the parent company, a venture capital firm named Prosperitas, pulled out of the concept, and the Louisville edition was sold to Tim Woodburn, who owned the Lexington edition. Woodburn continued to publish in Louisville and Lexington, while the Savannah, Northern Kentucky, and San Diego, and editions had all stopped publishing (in October 2004, November 2004, and February 2005, respectively). The

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is List of municipalities in South Carolina, the second-mo ...

, edition continues to be published by Jim Shine and Jerry Adams on an intermittent basis. In May 2005, the executive editor

Richard Des Ruisseaux Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and ...

retired, having run the Louisville edition since its founding. In July 2005, Louisville Crime, LLC, the new owners of ''Snitch'', announced that they had been unable to reach agreement with the former owners about certain issues, so ''Louisville Snitch'' ceased publication immediately as of that date. The announcement said the paper would reopen late Fall 2005, under a new name, although this apparently did not happen. In December 2005, ''Lexington Snitch'' also ceased publication, citing lack of advertising revenue and pledging a replacement, ''The Lexington Times'', in spring 2006. ''The Lexington Times'' had not published a single edition as of February 2007.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Snitch.com
- Former official website, no longer related to the publication Defunct newspapers published in Louisville, Kentucky Defunct weekly newspapers Alternative weekly newspapers published in the United States Defunct companies based in Louisville, Kentucky Publishing companies established in 2000 Publishing companies disestablished in 2005 2000 establishments in Kentucky 2005 disestablishments in Kentucky