 | |
Type of site | News, culture |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Owner | New York Public Radio |
| Created by |
|
| URL | gothamist |
| Launched | 2003; 23 years ago (2003) |
| Current status | Active |
Gothamist is aNew York City–centricblog operated byNew York Public Radio. From 2003 to 2018, Gothamist LLC was the operator, or in some casesfranchisor, of eight city-centric websites that focused on news, events, food, culture, and other local coverage. It was founded in 2003 byJake Dobkin and Jen Chung. In March 2017,Joe Ricketts, owner ofDNAinfo, acquired the company and, in November 2017, the websites were temporarily shut down after the newsroom staff voted tounionize. In February 2018, it was announced that New York Public Radio,KPCC andWAMU had acquiredGothamist,LAist, andDCist, respectively.Chicagoist was purchased by Chicago-born rapperChance the Rapper in July 2018.
 | This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(February 2026) |
The blogGothamist, focused on New York City, was founded in 2003, by publisher Jake Dobkin and editor Jen Chung. As of June 2014[update] other blogs operated by the company includeLAist for Los Angeles,DCist for Washington, D.C.,Chicagoist, andSFist forSan Francisco in the United States,[1] as well asShanghaiist internationally.[2]Bostonist forBoston ceased operation in 2011.[3]
Canadian blogTorontoist was launched by the American company, but was transferred to the locally owned Ink Truck Media in April 2009, while retaining its "-ist" name and remaining affiliated with theGothamist network.[4] In March 2011,Torontoist was acquired from Ink Truck Media by St. Joseph Media, magazine publishing division of Canadian media giantSt. Joseph Communications.[5] As a result, the site was not affected by theGothamist shutdown in 2017, and remained in operation until it was acquired byDaily Hive in 2019.
In a similar fashion, in 2010Londonist was transferred to the London-based startup LDN Creative.[6]
An estimate by Income.com in 2015 quoted the monthly revenue fromGothamist at $110,000.[7]
In 2017,Gothamist and all related blogs were sold toJoe Ricketts, owner ofDNAinfo.[8][9] After the acquisition,Gothamist expunged from its archives a number of stories that had covered Ricketts critically. Regarding the removal of Ricketts related content from the site, Dobkin toldJezebel, "Just as Bloomberg doesn't cover Bloomberg, we don't plan to cover Joe Ricketts and so we decided to take down our coverage of him. No one asked us to do it. It was a decision made solely by Jen [Chung] and me."[10]
On November 2, 2017, Ricketts posted to bothDNAinfo and the "-ist" network sites that both websites would immediately cease operations, a week afterGothamist writers voted to unionize with theWriters Guild of America, East.[11] All content from allDNAinfo sites and all subsidiary sites were taken down.[12] The next day, archives of the sites were returned to functionality.[13] Ricketts's shutdown was criticized as being a mere act of retaliation after the two companies' workers had joined a union.[14] In the aftermath of the shutdown, laid-offGothamist reporters stated that former owners Dobkin and Chung actively cooperated with Ricketts to discourage the union efforts, calling their actions "textbookunion-busting stuff."[15]
On February 23, 2018, public radio stationsWNYC,KPCC, andWAMU announced that they had jointly acquiredGothamist and its related sitesLAist andDCist.[16] Under the agreement,Gothamist and its sister sites would begin publishing news content again.[17] Additionally, WNYC acquired the archives ofChicagoist andSFist, and Chicago'sWBEZ stated that they were exploring an acquisition of the former.[18] WAMU relaunchedDCist on June 11, 2018.[19]Gothamist confirmed thatChance the Rapper acquiredChicagoist after he announced it in a new song, "I Might Need Security", on July 18, 2018.[20]
On January 7, 2019, labor unionSAG-AFTRA and WNYC announced that they had reached an agreement to recognize more than 25 digital employees of New York Public Radio, includingGothamist staff.[21]
Impress3 Media bought the San Francisco blog siteSFist in January 2019 and relaunched it the following month with the former editor-in-chief as a consultant.[22]
In April 2021, WNYC laid off 14 employees, amounting to 4% of total staff. This included several workers at theGothamist including its editor-in-chief.[23]
WAMU shut down DCist in 2024.[24]
The flagshipGothamist blog has received a number of awards and commendations, including sixBloggies nominations. It was named a "Forbes Favorite",[25] and aBusinessWeek "Best of the Web".[26] In 2007,Gothamist was named blog of the year byWired magazine and given a Wired Rave Award.[27]
