It appears that in the last three months the Winsted Citizen has lived the entire life cycle of the newspaper industry of the last 100 years.
From idealistic beginnings backed by an icon of 1960s liberalism, to its first pilot issues, to financially challenged, to possible non-profit rescue and re-birth.
It has been a fast moving 72 hours in the life of the paper, started with the financial backing of Winsted native Ralph Nader. According to reports, Nader put up the initial $15,000 to get the paper off the ground, but sometime over the last week he let editor Andy Thibault know his well has run dry. This put the paper in danger of folding and was demoralizing to the staff Thibault had quickly cobbled together prior to launch.
By the end of the day Monday the CTNewsConsortium announced it is considering bringing the Citizen under its non-profit status possibly giving the paper a new, if temporary, lease on life. Talks are on-going.
Developing….
