''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 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 ...

published in parts of the

United States 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 territorie ...

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, definit ...

and

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

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 inflection ...

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 largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, 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'' founder Harold Ross, 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 city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

, Northern Kentucky,

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is 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 Br ...

, and

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. 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 capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city ...

, 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 ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...

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