A couple of decades ago, in a far, far away media universe, I was Philadelphia magazine\u2019s editor. That was a widely read and highly praised monthly magazine. But this ain\u2019t about looking back at that. We\u2019re looking forward, thinking bigger. We\u2019re really in the community-building business. Think of it: If the railroads of yesteryear had realized they were actually in the transportation business \u2014 and not just the railroad business \u2014 our airlines today would be named the Atcheson, the Topeka and the Santa Fe. Similarly, if legacy media had recognized that it\u2019s really in the community, rather than just the information business, perhaps it wouldn\u2019t be in its current death spiral.<\/p>\n
New Philly mag editor Christy Speer Lejeune<\/a> likes to say she\u2019ll be overseeing the production of \u201cPhiladelphia\u2019s ultimate user\u2019s guide,\u201d and isn\u2019t that what\u2019s precisely needed today? It\u2019s harder than ever to navigate your own backyard and to stay up on the stories that shape our zeitgeist. Add to that The Citizen\u2019s focus on solutions and its sometimes outraged hectoring for the powerful to do better and what do you get? A voice pushing its city to get its damn swagger back.<\/p>\n We\u2019re not interested in just shooting content out into the ether. Instead, we want to enlist you in the effort to remake The Philadelphia Story. <\/p>\n We seek to become the region\u2019s virtual and actual Town Square. And our ethos reflects our mission. We are: Smart, joyful, hard-hitting, fair, solutions-oriented, enthusiastic and innovative. We ain\u2019t: Ideological, objective, snide, and driven to chase clicks. We encourage point of view, provided it\u2019s driven by in-depth, professional reporting. We\u2019re for what works and against what doesn\u2019t. Most importantly, we have fun \u2014 because when you have fun creating media, it\u2019s a spirit that can magically transfer to those who consume it. It\u2019s the damnedest thing.<\/p>\n We\u2019re not interested in just shooting content out into the ether. Instead, we want to enlist you in the effort to remake The Philadelphia Story. As a nonprofit, we want to cultivate an army of members who help shape and evangelize for a new version of ourselves. In fact, stay tuned for a long-held dream of mine \u2014 the opportunity for you to become a \u201cstakeholder\u201d in the Citizen Media Group, borrowed from the model of the NFL\u2019s Green Bay Packers,<\/a> which is owned by its fans. (In all other respects, I hate the Packers and everything about them. Your frozen tundra can kiss my Eagle-green ass.)<\/p>\n The founding chairman of The Citizen was the late, great civic innovator Jeremy Nowak, who liked to say that we talk about patriotism all the time in this country, often in the most superficial of ways. \u201cBut we never talk about local patriotism,\u201d he\u2019d say. \u201cIt\u2019s not even a thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Well, if we stand for anything, it\u2019s that holding the door for your neighbor at Wawa, celebrating a chef who puts it all on the line to make her dream a reality, learning how to navigate an often confusing healthcare system, or holding a corrupt elected official to account \u2014 these are all acts of local patriotism. We are called to such action by sharing a common story. Because without it, we\u2019re just a bunch of strangers \u2014 and we know where that gets us. Welcome to an ever-evolving, thrilling, innovative experiment in new media for a new Philadelphia age.<\/p>\n
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