The Richmond Standard
 | |
Type of site | News website |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Headquarters | |
| Owner | Chevron Corporation |
| Editor | Mike Aldax |
| URL | richmondstandard |
The Richmond Standard is a news site for Richmond, California that functions as the city's only local news outlet. Opened in 2014, It is funded by the Chevron Corporation, which owns the Chevron Richmond Refinery. The site has been praised for its coverage of local issues but criticized for its lack of coverage of stories that are negative toward Chevron.
Background
The Chevron Corporation has framed its funding of The Richmond Standard as community investment because The Independent, a Richmond-focused paper founded in 1910, had been folded into The Berkeley Gazette in 1978, only for the combined newspaper to shut down in 1984, leaving the area without local reporting.[1]
In 2014, Jay Barmann of SFist praised the site's coverage of Richmond mayor Gayle McLaughlin failing to report that her September 2013 trip to Ecuador had been funded by Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa.[2][3]
In September 2022, the United States House Committee on Natural Resources' report The Role of Public Relations Firms in Preventing Action on Climate Change found that The Richmond Standard had been created to quell public backlash in the wake of the Chevron Richmond Refinery's 2012 fire that resulted in approximately 15,000 residents seeking treatment at local hospitals and 19 occupational injuries.[4]
In 2024, David Folkenflik of NPR and Miranda Green of Floodlight criticized the site for failing to report on a February 2021 pipeline rupture and November 2023 refinery flare that had polluted the air and water of the San Francisco Bay Area. They argued that Chevron's funding had biased its editorial stance against informing local residents of the health risks posed by this pollution.[1] Edward Wasserman, the former dean of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, has likened the site's corporate funding to media ownership structures during the Gilded Age, claiming that it is unethical for Chevron to control public opinion in a town where it is the largest employer.[5]
Operations
The site is operated by the public relations firm Singer Associates.[1][6] Its three-person news team consists of editor Mike Aldax, a former San Francisco Examiner journalist; community and lifestyle reporter Zach Chouteau; and business reporter Mike Kinney.[7]
References
- ^ a b c Green, Miranda; Folkenflik, David (March 28, 2024). "Chevron owns this city's news site. Many stories aren't told". NPR. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
- ^ Aldax, Mike (June 12, 2014). "Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin's Association With Ecuador's U.S. PR Firm Raises Questions". Richmond Standard. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
- ^ Barmann, Jay (June 19, 2014). "If You're Not Reading The Richmond Standard, Perhaps You Should Start". SFist. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
- ^ The Role of Public Relations Firms in Preventing Action on Climate Change (PDF) (Report). United States House Committee on Natural Resources. September 14, 2022. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
- ^ Baker, David R. (March 22, 2014). "New Chevron Website Covers Richmond News". SFGate. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
- ^ Aldax, Mike (January 23, 2014). "Richmond Deserves More News Coverage". Richmond Standard. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
- ^ "About Us". Richmond Standard. Retrieved April 2, 2024.