Pacific Sun 07.16.2010 - Section 1

Page 10

›› UPFRONT < 8 Light vs. Citizen: Round 2 through a variety of media and educational programs in west Marin County. Governed by a board of journalists, writers and educators, the Institute fosters rigorous local news reporting and analysis that reect the needs and values of the region and its connection between local, national and global issues.â€? While Media Institute principals are far more compatible with West Marin than Plotkin was, it’s the ratio of truly local reporting to coverage of wider issues that has Hack—and others devoted to in-thetrenches, cover-the-meeting journalism— concerned. An editorial box on page three of the Citizen’s July 8 issue states, “Dear readers: Rest assured that absent an open, equitable and collaborative effort to merge the papers with fairness to readers, contributors, staff and owners of both papers, the West Marin Citizen will continue on our path—the path which you have laid out for us—to provide faithful coverage of West Marin every week.â€? Corey Goodman is a scientist, professor and biotech entrepreneur with an impressive resume who helped guide PďŹ zer Inc. into biotech. Mark Dowie is an investigative reporter, former publisher of Mother Jones magazine and a UC Berkeley professor. He has as many accolades on his resume as Goodman. The two represented the driving force behind the Media Institute. They both serve on the nine-member board. Dowie is the chairman of the

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of that amount went to the actual purchase. Money also went to pay legal expenses, which mounted during the negotiations with Plotkin that Goodman calls “surreal.â€? Contributions came from some families who kicked in $50,000. “Some gave us $25,000 and others $20,000,â€? says Goodman. The bulk of the money came in chunks of $10,000 to $50,000. Goodman says that while he was pursuing the Light purchase, he heard that Hack would sell the Citizen to the newly formed venture for $40,000. He says it seemed reasonable to add another $10,000 for Jim Kravets, the Citizen editor who had worked for Mitchell and then for Plotkin, before Plotkin’s distorted vision of community journalism led Kravets to team with Hack. According to a Media Institute timeline posted online, Hack told the Institute he might ďŹ le for bankruptcy because of some personal ďŹ nancial problems with unpaid taxes, which Hack says had nothing to do with the Citizen or the Bodega Bay Navigator, a successful online publication for Bodega visitors, which runs at a proďŹ t, helping to defray losses at the Citizen, according the Hack. Hack ďŹ led for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection on Feb. 26. Goodman says the Institute didn’t learn until April 12 that Hack had ďŹ led for bankruptcy, two weeks before negotiations started. On April 14, Douglas Ferguson, an attorney representing the Institute, sent a letter to the bankruptcy trustee explaining that the Institute had been negotiating

Editorial Advisory Committee. Last fall, Goodman says, he began thinking about the ďŹ nancial situation of the Light and the Citizen. He knew that Plotkin was losing money in a big way at the Light. A group of residents had tried to buy the paper from Plotkin in 2009, but later in the year, says Goodman, “I started to hear from several people that Robert (Plotkin) was trying to sell the Light. What concerned me was that he was going to get another carpetbagger like himself. Somebody else was going to come from the outside who didn’t live in the community.â€? Goodman, who has started “a bunch of biotech companies,â€? says he knew he couldn’t seek investors in the strictest sense of the word. An investment in a paper in West Marin is unlikely to see a proďŹ t. “I started talking to Mark (Dowie,) and I started to think about nonproďŹ t models. I would have to be smoking something to go to people and ask them to invest, but what I could do is go to someone and ask whether they would contribute, especially if we could make it tax deductible.â€? The idea was to reinvigorate the Light and also create an internship program, maybe other media ventures. “Could we do something interesting for our community?â€? Dowie approached Plotkin and began a tortuous negotiating process. The Media Institute and the creation of a low-proďŹ t limited liability company (L3C) formed the basis of the venture that ultimately led to the purchase in May. Dowie says 88 donors contributed a total of $350,000. Just a portion

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