In February of this year, Washington DC lost one of its noteworthy local publications—DCist—after WAMU shut it down. WAMU also lost a number of its own staffers to financial cuts. Now, just two months later, a number of former reporters at both appear to be coming together to form a new, worker-owned newsroom. They write that:
Following the shuttering of DCist and the gutting of WAMU's newsroom, a group of alum teamed up to fill our city's widening local news gap. We're creating a worker-led, community-based, local outlet — one run by the people who actually make the journalism, not a C-suite.
We’re committed to representing what it really means to live in D.C. Our coverage will serve the whole city: every ward, and each community that lives in and loves the District. Our reporting will be guided by justice and equity, tackling the complex issues facing our city, like housing, safety, and education, from the perspective that all residents deserve these fundamental rights. Of course, we're also going to be funny, curious, and irreverent at times... honoring the DCist tradition.
To do this, though, they need a name! And the first thing they're doing is crowdsourcing that name from the D.C. community. Attached to this post is their Google form for picking a name and following what they do next. They write here that:
As a community-centered publication, we want to create a reciprocal relationship with you, our readers and neighbors, to find out what stories, questions, and information matter to you. This relationship is going to start with picking a name for this thing! If you like what you've read here, make sure to put down your email so we'll know where to reach you with more updates.