Bay City News is a

news agency A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and All-news radio, radio and News broadcasting, television Broadcasting, broadcasters. A news agency may ...

based in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

that focuses on general interest news. It employs about 25 reporters and editors and is overseen by veteran journalist Katherine Ann Rowlands.

History

Established in 1979, Bay City News employs about 25 reporters and editors who cover the greater San Francisco Bay Area. The service feeds 100 TV, radio, print and digital newsrooms around the clock. It also serves businesses, PR firms and government agencies in need of information about where people live, work and play in the nine-county area. As the region's only general-interest wire service, Bay City News plays a vital role in keeping communities informed, whether it be through breaking news reports, up-to-date disaster information, civic affairs, public event coverage, or updates on local criminal and appellate court cases. It also covers the big topics of the day, including housing, transportation, immigration and the environment. The company has a nonprofit affiliate, Bay City News Foundation, which uses philanthropic support to fill the news gaps in the region and publish community stories at LocalNewsMatters.org. In 2018, journalist Katherine Ann Rowlands, a Berkeley, California native and John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University, purchased the company. Richard Fogel (1923–2009), one of the three founders, helped craft principles of the

Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act * ...

. He also served as chairman of the National Freedom of Information Committee of the

Society of Professional Journalists The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, letter ...

. In 1989, Fogel was awarded the James Madison Freedom of Information Career Achievement Award. As Fogel worked as editor and publisher, his wife Marcia ran the entertainment coverage and partner Wayne Futak served as general manager until he sold the company in 2018.

Newsrooms that subscribe

Bay City News counts nearly 100 subscribers among its clients, from TV stations such as

KGO-TV KGO-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area's ABC network outlet. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, KGO-TV maint ...

Channel 7 to radio broadcasters such as KCBS Radio, to newspapers such as the ''

San Jose Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidiar ...

'' and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. The service also serves digital-only clients such as th
Piedmont Exedra
and

SFGate The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The p ...

References

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External links

Official page for Bay City News ServiceOfficial page for Bay City News FoundationOfficial page for nonprofit affiliate news site LocalNewsMatter.org
News agencies based in the United States Newspapers published in the San Francisco Bay Area Mass media companies established in 1979