A native of Wichita, Kansas, Michael Phillips grew up loving baseball. After college, he was thrilled when he landed his dream job and moved east to work for the Washington Nationals. “I don’t know if you know this, but they play every night,” he says, laughing. “It grinded me down, and I realized it wasn’t my dream job.”
Instead he nabbed a sports writing vacancy at The Richmond Times-Dispatch, where he worked for 16 years, eventually becoming senior editor as the paper began to downsize. After passing up the managing editor job due to questions about the company’s direction, Phillips soon was included in layoffs, which led to some soul searching.
“There’s a very important function journalism plays,” he says. “And right now, it’s more critical than ever and it’s being done less than ever.”
Phillips went to Dwayne Yancy, editor of the nonprofit Cardinal News, which had been having success in Roanoke, for advice on starting a nonprofit news site. But what really made The Richmonder happen, Phillips says, was getting the staff he wanted, which includes veteran politics reporter Graham Moomaw and former Virginia Mercury Editor Sarah Vogelsong.
Already, Phillips had noticed Richmond City Council meetings with no journalists attending in person. He saw the upcoming fall election cycle as a chance to prove The Richmonder’s value, not just with mayoral race coverage, but council and school board.
“We have a two-pronged mission: Keep a watchful eye on those in power, and to spotlight the best of our city,” he explains. “We’re a 501c3, so fundraising will be the toughest task. But part of our message is: You can’t afford for us not to exist. We’re going to be your eyes and ears in the room … We believe you’ll live in a better Richmond because of the work we do each day.”
It’s a bold move that will be fraught with challenges, but if you care about Richmond and its people, you should support more accountability journalism.
“I want to lift all boats. There are so many stories in this town, it’s going to take all of us,” Phillips says of the local media landscape, adding that institutional knowledge of how to do journalism is dying. “My age bridges the gap. I’ve seen [journalism] at its best and its worst; I’m just young enough to be excited and have the energy, and just old enough to know what it looks like when done well.”
