The Issaquah Spotlight, a new online news outlet, has launched in Issaquah, Washington, aiming to fill the void left by the closure of the community newspaper, The Issaquah Press, nearly a decade ago.
Local News Initiative
The Issaquah Spotlight debuted earlier this month with two part-time journalists and a motivated board that raised more than $70,000 to get started. The outlet is producing a weekly report that is emailed to subscribers on Friday mornings.
According to Adam Pinsky, co-founder and publisher, the community is thrilled to see a local newspaper in Issaquah. Pinsky, who recently retired as chief financial officer at Bayley Construction, has lived in the Issaquah area since the early 1990s and used to subscribe to The Press, as well as the Seattle dailies.
Pinsky worked with a group of volunteers, began researching how to proceed, formed a board of directors, and started raising money. The founding editor, Maddie Coats, and reporter, Cameron Sires, both have newspaper experience, including work for Sound Publishing’s local papers.
Focus on Local News
The Issaquah Spotlight will focus on “greater Issaquah” and include coverage of the school district, which extends to parts of Sammamish, Bellevue, and Renton. The outlet will cover elections but won’t have an editorial page or do endorsements.
The goal is to do professional journalism and provide an independent, trusted source of information. The Issaquah Spotlight hopes to raise $100,000 by the end of June and another $150,000 by year-end to build the reader-donor base.
Original reporting: Renton Reporter — read the source article.
