Today CITY and WXXI Public Broadcasting are announcing a major development in local journalism: WXXI’s board of directors has signed a letter of intent to acquire CITY Newspaper and its digital platforms.
After the acquisition, WXXI will remain a not-for-profit public media organization while CITY will continue to be a newspaper and digital publication owned by a for-profit subsidiary of WXXI.
As founders and co-publishers, we have wanted to ensure that CITY’S journalism and community service continue beyond our eventual retirement. We believe the need for those efforts has never been stronger, and we sought out WXXI because it is a trusted community entity with the same mission.
We’ve been members of WXXI for many years, and have been voracious consumers of their services. It is clear that CITY and WXXI have similar missions, and together, we will be greater than the sum of two organizations.
Independent journalism continues to be important to this community. WXXI’s acquisition will preserve and expand the quality and depth of local reporting. And it will prioritize coverage of the arts, culture, and life in the Greater Rochester area.
Many of the concerns that faced the Greater Rochester area when both WXXI and CITY were founded are relevant today. New media opportunities have developed since CITY began its public service mission, and with this acquisition, WXXI will help provide wide-ranging access to that content.
The acquisition offers opportunities to both CITY and WXXI. It gives WXXI the opportunity “to better serve our community through enhanced news coverage with an extended focus on arts and culture, education, neighborhoods, and events,” WXXI President Norm Silverstein says. “It’s an example of what a modern media organization should be.”
We believe that by combining the resources of a print publication, digital publications, radio, television, and the Little Theatre’s screen and community-space offerings, we have unprecedented opportunities to serve the Rochester region with exceptional journalism.
We are excited about this new phase in CITY’s life, which will continue the work that we and a series of talented Rochesterians have been doing for nearly 50 years. We welcome and encourage your comments.
– Bill and Mary Anna Towler
This article appears in Dec 12-18, 2018.
Very good news. Finally, retirement for you both, with City still going strong. Congratulations.
I am delighted to read this. It is indeed a wonderful joining of great media and another reason that we love living in Rochester. Thanks to both organizations for your work and foresight.
Good news and great planning!
How lucky you are, Bill and Mary Anna, to find the perfect buyer!
I wish you both health, happiness and relaxation in your retirement.
Christina Arden-Jackson
Congratulations Bill and Mary Anna. I have fond memories of the short time I spent working at the paper. This evolution of CITY makes complete sense to me. Wish you both all the best in whatever is next in your lives.
Jason Woz
We remember those days in the early 1970s, when, with our babies in arms, neighbors Mary Anna and Dot Taylor talked on the corner of Westminster and Thayer, about your nascent plans for a neighborhood newspaper. They were exciting days, and it is a joy to see the perfect passing of the torch. Long live City ! Long live XXI !
Great. Now beef up the coverage of the robust local literary scene.
Congratulations on your retirement. Thankfully many years of alternative news will continue.
Brilliant idea!!! I depend on City and WXXI – love this combining of resources and talents. Bill and Mary Anna – you have been true community treasurers – thanks for planning this so well. And many thanks for all you have brought to our community over the years. Jane Bleeg
Hopefully Ms. Towler will retire VERY soon and professionals will take over. However, given the censorship exhibited by this paper over the years, the line about welcoming comments is the biggest piece of Fake News I’v e seen locally.
Best wishes Bill and good news to know City will continue. Gracias amigo.
Let’s hope WXXI breahes new life into City. It will probably still be vanilla news with more balance. No one likes to ruffle feathers at either place, so it’s a good match.
I think this is great news! I know how much the paper has contributed to the health of the Rochester community by providing independent, progressive, and in-depth reporting over the decades. We need this more than ever, and this collaboration seems likely to keep that mission strong once Bill and Mary Anna have taken a much-deserved break! (Full disclosure: I was a reporter for City back in the 80s.)
–Steve Braun
RobertS47 – I agree. The “alternative” difference between this publication and the Dimbulb & Comical has been shrinking for years and is now virtually non-existent. The biggest difference is that the D&C has access to Gannett, a far greater source of filler and fluff than City can draw from.
Please tell me again. Why does WXXI Public Television need tax dollars from common folks like welders and waitresses? So WXXI can purchase a for profit newspaper?!!? I suppose WXXI is tax exempt too. If WXXI has the $$$ to purchase CITY, then cut them off from hard earned dollars of taxpayers.
Mr. East, it’s amusing that , given how New York taxpayers must subsidize the Red States (we get back only $.84 for each dollar sent to the federal government. A short fall for FY2016 of $41 BILLION dollars) you spend your time fixating on the buck or two a year that each American pays to support public TV and radio. That’s not even enough for you to buy a new MAGA cap.
Thank you Mr. Baker. I too am amused at your attempt to turn this issue into Red States vs Blue States, as well as an issue somehow involving President Trump. (MAGA hats? Really???). The fact is, regular worker folks like waitresses and welders in all States ….. Red Blue Purple whatever . . . . are paying Federal taxes on their hard earned wages. Some portion of those taxes are being funneled thru Washington to Public Televison. Does not matter what State those workers reside or if those workers are Democrats, Republicans, Independents, etc. So please tell me again. Why does WXXI need tax dollars from hard working folks all across the USA like waitresses, housekeepers, soldiers, firefighters, nurses, farmers, etc etc etc . . . . in some cases from folks struggling pay check to pay check . . . . so that WXXI can purchase a for profit newspaper???
Mike East ……. While you’re pondering that huge financial loss occasioned by taxpayers having to subsidize public TV, and how relieving them of that burden will ease their financial struggles, perhaps you can explain why I, or anyone without children, should have to bear the far greater cost of subsidizing your children’s primary and secondary school education (for the sake of argument we’ll assume you have children) by paying school taxes. I’ll be happy to pay your share of supporting WXXI if you pay the property taxes on my home.
Not so fast. As WXXI is a taxpayer owned company, shouldn’t City News go out to bid? How much will taxpayers be paying for this? It’s possible that WXXI will be over paying with taxpayer dollars.
Thank you Mr Sullivan. Perhaps if the Government were not giving our hard earned taxes to non-profit entities like WXXI to purchase for-profit businesses, then all our school property taxes could be lowered.
Seriously, (with apologies for my lame attempt at humor above) this will be my last post on the topic. I am tapping out on this comment stream because the replies to my question all seem to avoid answering it. Instead co-readers get obfuscation about Red States vs Blue States, or the perceived unfairness of wealthy Sates like New York receiving less back from the Federal Government than poor States like Mississippi, or re-characterizing the payment of local school taxes from . . . . revenue to educate our communitys young people . . . to some sort of battle between neighbors who do or dont have children. Not to mention dragging President Trump into this debate. (Love him or hate him, I dont see how he enters into WXXIs purchase of City.) So if no one will answer my initial question (i.e. why do we all give our tax dollars to a tax exempt non-profit like WXXI so they can now compete for advertisers against tax paying businesses like the Democrat and Chronicle and/or the local Post newspapers) then let me end with a different question: One that is premised on the understanding that roughly 20% of WXXIs revenues come from Government grants.
How can City newspaper remain credibly bravely independently athwart against Government fraud abuse mismanagement and corruption in our community once it becomes a dependent subsidiary of an entity that receives considerable financial support from the Government?
– – –
Happy safe 2019 to all.
City is not independent and it does accept tax dollars from government advertising, particularly from the City of Rochester, as many have pointed out in other forums. City’s news coverage makes it clear it will not upset City Hall or Democrats in any way.
WXXI should further explain the for-profit model. It probably could have started its own newspaper and saved everyone a lot of money instead of buying a faded brand. What does the United Way know about media, anyway?
Inquisitive: I believe you’re conflating the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (a private non-profit org that was founded by Congress in 1967, and that oversees the distribution of government funding to support hundreds of locally owned public radio and tv stations) with the WXXI Public Broadcasting Council (a non-profit that runs a number of Rochester-area radio and tv stations, the Little Theater, and is acquiring City Newspaper).
WXXI gets about $1.5m annually from the CPB in the form of grants, representing about 10% of their annual revenue stream. They get a comparable amount in NY Dept of Educ grants. The remaining 80% of their budget comes from non-governmental sources.
WXXI is not owned by the government, nor it is “taxpayer owned”.
“Perhaps if the Government were not giving our hard earned taxes to non-profit entities like WXXI to purchase for-profit businesses, then all our school property taxes could be lowered. ” Mr. East, Ok you win the prize for the best non sequitur on this page. Congratulations. I do agree with your decision to make that your last post. It would be tough to dig the hole any deeper.
Hey Timothy, to be fair, the guy did state his comment about lowering school taxes for all was admittedly a lame attempt at humor in response to a perceived obfuscation by another commentator. Perhaps in reply to the other commentators (presumed) humor about trading his school tax bill for the guys taxes that go to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting? To be fair to both guys maybe both having some fun in this forum?
Who cares – so taxes aside – fact remains the idea of a newspaper receiving Governmant grants directly or indirectly via its non-profit parent company could be a litte troubling, no? Never been near a journalism school, but isnt that the type of conflict journalism schools teach in ethics class? Any journo grads out there who can weigh in on the ethics angle?
There is a great deal of government support given to the news media and has been since the founding of our nation, although the levels of support have declined in the past 40 years. https://fundingthenews.usc.edu/report/intr…