''DNAinfo'' was an

online newspaper An online newspaper (or electronic news or electronic news publication) is the online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical. Going online created more opportunities for newspa ...

that focused on neighborhood news in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. It was closed down by CEO and owner

Joe Ricketts John Joseph Ricketts (born July 16, 1941) is an American businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder, former CEO and former chairman of TD Ameritrade. He has a net worth of US$2.7 billion according to ''Forbes''. He has pursued a variety of ...

in November 2017 after writers in its New York branch voted to

unionize A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

, a move to which Ricketts was opposed.

History

Founded by

in November 2009 as "Digital Network Associates", DNAinfo.com began by offering online, hyperlocal coverage for New York City and online coverage for Chicago launched in November 2012. In December 2013, ''DNAinfo'' launched a print version coverage by the name, ''DNAinfo.com.'' The operational and editorial offices for ''DNAinfo'' were in New York and Chicago. ''DNAinfo'' is also a registered trademark. In March 2017, DNAinfo purchased the New York media company

Gothamist Gothamist LLC is the operator, or in some cases franchisor, of eight city-centric websites that focused on news, events, food, culture, and other local coverage. It was founded in 2003 by Jake Dobkin and Jen Chung. In March 2017, Joe Ricketts, ...

. On November 2, 2017, Ricketts posted to both DNAinfo and the "-ist" network sites that both websites would immediately cease operations, a week after Gothamist writers voted to unionize with the

Writers Guild of America, East The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) is a labor union representing writers in film, television, radio, news, and online media. The Writers Guild of America, East is affiliated with the Writers Guild of America West. Together the guilds admi ...

. All content from all DNAinfo sites and all subsidiary sites were taken down. The next day, archives of the sites were returned to functionality. Ricketts's shutdown was criticized as being an act of retaliation after the two companies' workers had joined a union. After DNAinfo shutdown, three of the Chicago newspaper's former editors decided to launch their own independent hyperlocal news organization. Within a few months, ''

Block Club Chicago ''Block Club Chicago'' is an online newspaper that reports local and neighborhood news in Chicago. The website operates as a non-profit, subscription-based service. After ''DNAinfo'' was shut down in November 2017, ''Block Club Chicago'' was fo ...

'' had raised more than $183,000 on

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

. By the end of 2018, after 6 months of publishing, ''Block Club Chicago'' had more than 6,000 paid subscribers and over 7 million pageviews.

References

2009 establishments in New York City 2017 disestablishments in New York (state) American news websites Internet properties established in 2009 Internet properties disestablished in 2017 Ricketts family {{news-website-stub