{{Short description|American nonprofit newspaper based in Baltimore}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = Baltimore Beat | image = | caption = | type = Alternative weekly | format = | founded = 2017 | ceased_publication = | owners = | circulation = | headquarters = Baltimore, Maryland | editor = Lisa Snowden-McCray | publisher = | ISSN = | website = {{URL|http://baltimorebeat.com}} }} '''''Baltimore Beat''''' is an American nonprofit media outlet based in and focused on Baltimore, Maryland.
==History== Brandon Soderberg was editor-in-chief of the ''Baltimore City Paper w''hen Baltimore Sun Media Group announced that it would close the alt weekly. Soderberg made several unsuccessful attempts to save the paper. Eventually, he partnered with publisher, Kevin Naff (of Brown Naff Pitts Omnimedia) to launch a new publication, the ''Baltimore Beat''. Soderberg then recruited former ''City Paper'' editor, Lisa Snowden-McCray, to serve as the ''Beat''<nowiki/>'s editor-in-chief.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-04-09 |title=Baltimore City Paper is closing after 40 years. Will it be missed? |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/baltimore-city-paper-is-closing-after-40-years-will-it-be-missed/2017/10/31/73b5b4d4-a951-11e7-b3aa-c0e2e1d41e38_story.html |access-date=2023-06-23 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=January 2018 |first=Ron Cassie {{!}} |date=2017-12-29 |title=Lisa Snowden-McCray Discusses Starting the Baltimore Beat |url=https://www.baltimoremagazine.com/section/historypolitics/lisa-snowden-mccray-discusses-starting-the-baltimore-beat/ |access-date=2023-06-23 |website=Baltimore Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref>
''Baltimore Beat'' had initial operating support (accounting, design, and production) from the ''Washington Blade'' (which is also published by Naff). In November 2017, two weeks after the final issue of ''Baltimore City Paper'', the first issue of ''Baltimore Beat'' was released.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=2017-11-15 |title=Baltimore's New Alt-Weekly Isn't Just Like Its Old One |language=en |work=Bloomberg.com |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-15/a-beat-picks-up-where-baltimore-s-alt-weekly-left-off |access-date=2023-06-23}}</ref> The debut cover story was a feature on local activist Erricka Bridgeford, written by Snowden-McCray and photographed by Devin Allen.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Baltimore Beat is rebuilding its community ties as an alt-weekly after corporate cut-downs |url=https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/12/baltimore-beat-is-rebuilding-its-community-ties-as-an-alt-weekly-after-corporate-cut-downs/ |access-date=2023-06-22 |website=Nieman Lab}}</ref>
Four months after its launch, ''Baltimore Beat'' closed due to insufficient advertising revenue. Though he'd initially expressed confidence in their business model,<ref name=":0" /> Naff blamed the shortfall on "perception of crime" in Baltimore.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-03-06 |title=Baltimore Beat publisher faults closure on Baltimore crime, perception of it |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/columnists/zurawik/bs-fe-zontv-baltimore-beat-closing-20180306-story.html |access-date=2023-06-23 |website=Baltimore Sun}}</ref>
One year after its initial shuttering, Soderberg and Snowden-McCray relaunched the ''Baltimore Beat'' as a nonprofit, digital publication focused on "service journalism and high-impact investigative work.".<ref name=":2" /> The two founders solicited private donations by setting up a Patreon for the paper. They also received support from the Baltimore Institute for Nonprofit Journalism.<ref name=":1" />
In 2020, the ''Beat'' began a two-year pause of publication.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |author=Daily Record Staff |date=2022-05-13 |title=Baltimore Beat nonprofit news publication makes return to print, online {{!}} Maryland Daily Record |url=https://thedailyrecord.com/2022/05/13/baltimore-beat-makes-return-to-print-online/ |access-date=2023-06-22 |language=en-US}}</ref> When it resumed in August 2022, with both print and digital media, the ''Beat re-''introduced itself as a "Black-led, Black-controlled nonprofit newspaper and media outlet."<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Us |url=http://baltimorebeat.com/about-us/ |access-date=2023-06-22 |website=Baltimore Beat |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> The publication had received a $1 million donation from the Lillian Holofcener Charitable Foundation, which, by making the donation had effectively emptied its reserves. According to Adam Holofcener, the donation was "an attempt to directly respond to the calls for racial justice after the murder of George Floyd by police in 2020 and an attempt to purge the family of gains it had made, which, as Holofcener sees it, came at the expense of Baltimore’s Black residents."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-01-19 |title=Foundation empties coffers to fund Black paper in Baltimore |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/foundation-empties-coffers-fund-black-paper-baltimore-rcna66524 |access-date=2023-06-22 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref>
In describing the difference between ''Baltimore Beat'' and more established Baltimore-based newspapers, like the century-old ''Afro News'', Snowden-McCray explained, "We have ''City Paper'' in our DNA. So I think that our lane is not at all to try to replace a 100-plus-year-old paper. Our lane is to figure out how to hold government accountable and do the things that we can do, provide deep arts coverage in the way that we can do it. I think Black people deserve a multitude of media outlets. We're just trying to help contribute to that."<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |title=Here's why the 'Baltimore Beat' relaunched as a Black-led, nonprofit publication |work=National Public Radio |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/08/12/1117263822/heres-why-the-baltimore-beat-relaunched-as-a-black-led-nonprofit-publication |access-date=June 22, 2023}}</ref>
Snowden-McCray has remained the ''Beat''<nowiki/>'s editor-in-chief throughout its history; but leading up to its 2022 relaunch, Soderberg moved into a temporary role, as director of operations, which concluded in September 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Beat |first=Baltimore |date=2022-09-07 |title=BRANDON SODERBERG ANNOUNCES DEPARTURE FROM BALTIMORE BEAT |url=http://baltimorebeat.com/brandon-soderberg-announces-departure-from-baltimore-beat/ |access-date=2023-06-22 |website=Baltimore Beat |language=en-US}}</ref> ''Baltimore Beat'' staff also includes Teri Henderson as arts and culture editor.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our Team |url=http://baltimorebeat.com/our-team/ |access-date=2023-06-22 |website=Baltimore Beat |language=en-US}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Newspapers published in Baltimore Category:Newspapers established in 2017 Category:African-American newspapers Category:Nonprofit newspapers