The Point Reyes Light
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Point Reyes Light | |
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| Type | Weekly newspaper |
| Format | Broadsheet |
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| Owner | Tomales Bay Publishing Company |
| Publisher | Robert Plotkin |
| Editor | Robert Plotkin |
| Founded | 1948 (as The Baywood Press) |
| Headquarters | Point Reyes Station, CA 94956 United States |
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| Website: ptreyeslight.com | |
The Point Reyes Light is a weekly newspaper published since 1948 in western Marin County, California.
The paper was originally known as the Baywood Press, and published for less than a year in Inverness before moving to Point Reyes Station. It was renamed The Point Reyes Light in 1966 after the lighthouse at Point Reyes.
The Light covers regional issues in West Marin, including the communities of Point Reyes Station, Inverness, Olema, Bolinas, Inverness Park, Nicasio, Stinson Beach, the San Geronimo Valley, Tomales, and the nearby Point Reyes National Seashore. The only other media outlet serving this region full time is the community FM radio station KWMR, also of Point Reyes Station.
The Point Reyes Light consistently garners many awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association, in the Small Weeklies category. In 1979 under publishers Dave and Cathy Mitchell, The Light earned the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for reporting on a cult, Synanon, which had a major presence in the area and had attempted to murder an attorney who won a lawsuit against the cult. The two major newspapers in the state, the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Examiner, had dropped their coverage of Synanon after libel threats.
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[edit] The Plotkin Era
In late 2005, Dave Mitchell sold The Light to Bolinas resident Robert Plotkin. The two men soon had a falling out, culminating in a physical encounter outside the newspaper's office the following February. In May 2006, a Marin Superior Court commissioner issued a permanent injunction prohibiting Mitchell from visiting the paper, as well as a three-year injunction barring him from contacting Plotkin and his family.[1] The following August, Plotkin obtained a court injunction forbidding Mitchell from posting his column on the Bodega Bay Navigator website. The ruling was based on a non-competition clause signed by Mitchell at the time of the Light's sale.[2][3][4]
Plotkin has written fewer editorials than Mitchell and, as a relative newcomer to the area, has written less about the community. He has sometimes taken an unorthodox approach, such as publishing pictures of his children and a 1920s essay by T.E. Lawrence. Early on, Plotkin recruited a cadre of interns from journalism schools, a few of whom went on to paying positions at the paper. "The only way to get the right esprit de corps — the people directed to a higher calling — is to invite [journalism students] to join the Round Table and go on a quest for the chalice," Plotkin told a Los Angeles Times reporter. "I fashion myself as sort of a Che Guevara. This paper is the Dunkirk of literary journalism. Our backs are against the wall. The Huns are upon us. It's time to fight."[5] Plotkin also initially added a veterinarian, an art critic, and cartoonists to the mix of contributors, while revamping the newspaper's website.
In his first months, Plotkin published a sprinkling of edgier stories, which both stirred controversy while helping garner attention far beyond West Marin. Subjects included a local rapist, a body found by a mushroomer, and a satanic gathering near Point Reyes with a picture of a young woman biting into a severed goat head. Such stories, and the editorial sensibility behind them, led to angry letters from some readers, but also to profiles in the San Francisco Chronicle,[6]Los Angeles Times,[5] and New York Times.[7] In June, 2006, Plotkin wrote editorial apologies for two items: a photo of young teens dancing in a manner that some saw as suggestive and for coverage that seemed to dismiss efforts by local merchants to encourage local shopping. The latter resulted in several merchants refusing to sell the next issue.
Plotkin commemorated his one-year anniversary as owner, publisher and editor with an issue composed largely of material reprinted from the previous 12 months that displayed wide coverage of West Marin issues, people and events, with an emphasis on feature stories and profiles. He took the occasion to note that while circulation has increased, income is down due to more readers purchasing the newspaper from merchants, who take a 25% cut. "The Silent Majority of happy readers must take out subscriptions and buy advertising space in order for the Light to survive," Plotkin wrote.[8].
[edit] Publishers
- Dave and Wilma Rogers 1948-1951 (Baywood Press, first issue March, 1948)
- Al and Madonna Bartlett 1951-1956 (Baywood Press)
- George and Nancy Sherman 1956-1957 (Baywood Press)
- Don and Clara Mae DeWolfe 1957-1970 (Changed to Point Reyes Light in 1966)
- Michael and Annabelle Gahagan 1970-1975
- Dave and Cathy Mitchell 1975-1981
- Ace Ramos and Rosalee Laird 1981-1983
- Dave Mitchell 1984-2005
- Robert Plotkin 2005-current
[edit] Notes
- ^ "West Marin Feud: Court Keeps Newspaper Figures Apart" by Mark Prado, Marin Independent Journal, May 13, 006, retrieved September 11, 2006
- ^ "Point Reyes News Feud Flares with Injunction" by Paul Liberatore, Marin Independent Journal, August 24, 2006, retrieved September 11, 2006
- ^ "Former Light owner suffers setback" by Nancy Isles Nation, Marin Independent Journal, October 7, 2006, retrieved October 16, 2006
- ^ "Competition & the 1st Amendment" by Robert Plotkin, Point Reyes Light September 9, 2006, retrieved September 11, 2006
- ^ a b Bringing Flair to the Point Reyes Light; The upstart publisher of the Pulitzer-winning weekly has angered some readers with his brand of journalism," by John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times pg B1, May 28, 2006
- ^ " Stirring up the Point Reyes Light Newspaper's new owner upsets and fascinates locals" by Peter Fimrite, San Francisco Chronicle, April 28, 2006, retrieved November 14, 2006,
- ^ "On a Fault Line, a Divide Opens Between a Newspaper Editor and His Predecessor" by Patricia Leigh Brown, New York Times, May 10, 2006, pg 22
- ^ "The Silent Majority of happy readers must take out subscriptions for the Light to survive" Point Reyes Light, pg 3, November 9, 2006
