What is the Philadelphia Plain Dealer?

The Philadelphia Plain Dealer is a brand new outlet managed, owned, and operated by young Philadelphians. The hope is to achieve an equitable, transparent, and writer-owned news outlet for the betterment of the City of Philadelphia.

By design, the articles in the Philadelphia Plain Dealer are currently articles that have no other place to go. Personally, as a journalist – I am using the Plain Dealer to publish failed pitches that my freelance clients do not or would not have interest in. The Philadelphia Plain Dealer publishes a “Philly Song of the Week” column every weekend, there’s no money in that, but it does benefit artists and the overall Philadelphia creative community.

The Plain Dealer is attempting to provide a platform for writers and stories that would otherwise go unheard. Philadelphia is a large city with just a handful of new outlets, most of which are completely inaccessible to the average person. We aim to be a sincere reflection of the City and a receptacle for the stories and art that are falling through the cracks.

We’re hesitant to define what the Philadelphia Plain Dealer is, because all too often media outlets are more focused on their brand identity than producing interesting and important information. The Philadelphia Plain Dealer has no money, we have no investors, and we have not set-up any way for anyone to support us; no one has ever made money on a Philadelphia Plain Dealer story to date; but we hope to change that as we prove our worth to the City of Philadelphia.

Our name is an homage to the original Philadelphia Plain Dealer, which was published by college students in 1970. It’s first issue criticized many of the same institutional and systemic problems that remain prevalent in Philadelphia today.

The Plain Dealer is currently a side-project for a number of hard-working people seeking out their space in the creative, journalistic, and artistic community. When we have a better grasp of what we are, or if we need money; we’ll be the first to let you know!