In the Marin IJ's article on the complaint Community Venture Partners filed with the Marin County District Attorney, challenging Marin County's historical practices of giving away money to favored non-profits under the illegal guise of "contracts for services," IJ reporter, Richard Halstead, offered the following description of the Marin Post.
"This summer, Marin Post, an online publication authored by resident Bob Silvestri."
If he had taken a moment to learn about the Marin Post, he might have understood that CVP is the founder of the Marin Post and as President of CVP, I act as its Editor in Chief (not its "author"--you'd think a journalist would know the difference).
So, I sent Mr. Halstead an email correcting his misconceptions. In it, I clarified the following,
The Marin Post is California's first online, citizen journalist, news magazine. It is a nonprofit, all volunteer, pioneering effort in new journalism. As President of Community Venture Partners, its founder and parent company, I serve as the Marin Post's Editor in Chief.
To date, the Marin Post has hosted 175 writers and investigative journalists whose work has been cited and/or republished by a variety of publications, including but not limited to 48 Hills, The Berkeley Daily Planet, LA Weekly, the LA Planning Report, Cal Matters, the San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post, and others.
The Marin Post is currently 4th in "market competitiveness/reach" according the third party advertising analytics, behind the Marin IJ, Marin Magazine, and the Pacific Sun, respectively.
In just a few years of existence, our overall readership metrics are half of the Marin IJ's without the benefit of having any funds for marketing. In addition, we are currently growing at a rate of approximately 2,500 new readers every month (per Google Analytics) and anticipate overtaking the Pacific Sun, sometime in 2020.
Proper attribution would be greatly appreciated.
Bob Silvestri - Editor in Chief, The Marin Post