After 27 years serving as an independent, local media outlet in Berkeley, the Berkeley Daily Planet has officially written its final article.
Owner Becky O’Malley announced in an article titled “We Told You So” that the publication is permanently ending operations after entering what was initially a temporary hiatus last year. O’Malley cited age, health limitations and maintenance costs as reasons for closing the publication.
“It turns out that old age is not necessarily a tsunami but is a series of those small drips that end up wearing down a stone,” Becky O’Malley wrote in the farewell editorial.
The free, print tabloid-style paper was founded in 1999, dedicated to hyperlocal community news. But, following financial struggles and low revenues, the publication soon shut down after three and a half years.
In 2003, Becky O’Malley and her husband Michael O’Malley purchased the paper for $15,000 using funds from the sale of their tech business, Berkeley Speech Technologies. Under them, the Daily Planet grew into a biweekly print publication known for its progressive stances, along with sharp opposition to major real estate developments across Berkeley.
The paper published content critiquing some of UC Berkeley’s physical expansion projects, including the university’s multimillion dollar renovation of California Memorial Stadium, a project O’Malley described in her final article as a “boondoggle.” She also heavily critiqued the constriction of high-density housing and luxury dormitories in downtown Berkeley, arguing they failed to resolve shortages of affordable family housing.
Mounting costs and dropping revenues forced the Daily Planet to transition to online-only in 2010. Up until last year, when it went on hiatus, the site became a blog of sorts, publishing opinion pieces by community contributors.
Throughout its run, the Daily Planet occasionally drew significant attention over its commentary section, including calls for boycotts following the publication of a 2006 column labelled antisemitic.
In her farewell piece, Becky O’Malley defended the decision to run controversial opinion pieces under free speech, though she added that the resulting financial and public fallout was an “exhausting experience.”
Assessing the remaining news media landscape in Berkeley, Becky O’Malley took jabs at a number of local outlets, ultimately referring to the Daily Californian as “the best overall breaking news coverage.”
While the Daily Planet will no longer produce new content, Becky O’Malley confirmed that the publication’s web archive will remain active online as a digital record of Berkeley’s history.