About Us

Our Story

COYOTE Media Collective was founded in 2025 by a team of longtime journalists in the Bay Area. We’re reporters and podcasters, filmmakers and photographers, opinion columnists and culture critics. We've watched hedge funds and mismanagement destroy the nation’s media ecosystem, and we refuse to believe in our own expendability — or yours.

Inspired by the alt-weeklies of yore, we envisioned an outlet that reflected the complexity and depth of the region we know and love. We serve readers who want to feel more connected to their communities, and who understand that a city’s greatest asset is the everyday people and families living within it. That community is the only way we all survive.

We call ourselves COYOTE in homage to the Indigenous trickster, the endemic Bay Area animal, and the local 1970s sex worker rights group by the same name. In a nod to the latter’s legacy, we invite you to Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics!

As a worker-owned media collective, we are joining a growing cadre of publications (Defector, Hell Gate, Racket, Hearing Things, The 51st) free from billionaire overlords, outdated hierarchies, and the necropolitics of legacy media’s editors-in-chiefs.

Together, we’re building something different. The old media world is dying. The new media world is ready to be born. Now is the time of monsters, and we’re one of them. Fangs up!

What We Cover

In the alt-weekly tradition, we love a narrative feature, a sharp-tongued opinion, a media critique, and arts and culture coverage that goes beyond the mainstream. We’re jumping into the fray with fresh, nuanced takes. We hold no institutions sacred. Not even that one. (Nor that one.)

Our Values

• Honesty is the best policy. We reject the ideals of “both sides” journalism in an era when all too often that means platforming bigotry, bad faith arguments, and lies. We also recognize that being a journalist shouldn’t preclude you from fighting for marginalized people and communities. Through robust reporting, we prioritize the pursuit of truth, not objectivity.
• Hopelessness is their tool, not ours. We believe taking action is the swiftest antidote to despair. Volunteer! Join a group! Protest! We hope our coverage leads readers to connect with those around them in new and unexpected ways.
• Art and culture are our gateways into the world. Art isn’t just what’s in museums or major institutions, and it doesn’t have to make money to be valuable. We are culturally curious without exclusivity. Show us your weird and goofy, your serious and wild.
• We listen to the voices that mainstream media ignores. All Bay Area residents deserve journalism that reflects their concerns and lived experiences. We prioritize the voices and interests of people of color, immigrants, queer people, disabled people, working-class people, unhoused people, and people who use drugs. We honor the region’s revolutionary tradition of solidarity building by fostering connection and understanding across communities.
• We own our mistakes and always strive to improve. When we get something wrong, we correct it quickly and prominently. We explain our reporting processes and editorial decisions to our readers, encouraging an open dialogue about our work and the stories we choose to tell.
• We act independently. We are not beholden to those in power. Our allegiances lie solely with our worker-owners and our readers. Any conflicts of interest are disclosed within our reporting.
• Journalism can be fun. We don’t participate in the media rat race, chasing the same breaking news stories as everyone else. We pursue stories we find important and exciting — with your help.

COYOTE exists, both spiritually and financially, thanks to the support of its readers. We hope you’ll consider joining our pack.