Isthmus (newspaper)

Isthmus is a free alternative weekly newspaper based in Madison, Wisconsin (US). Founded by Vince O'Hern and Fred Milverstedt in 1976, the paper is published on Thursdays, and has a weekly circulation of 50,000.[1][2] The newspaper offers local news, opinion, sports and the arts, dining and music scenes.

Isthmus

Type	Alternative weekly
Format	Tabloid
Owner(s)	Isthmus Community Media, Inc.
Editor	Judith Davidoff
Founded	April 9, 1976
Headquarters	Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Circulation	50,000[1]
Website	www.isthmus.com

Isthmus takes its name from the land mass that forms the heart of Madison’s downtown and houses the twin engines of the city’s economy, the University of Wisconsin—Madison and the Wisconsin State Capitol. The paper was founded by Vincent P. O'Hern and Fred Milverstedt, the latter a Madison area journalist and the former a Madison transplant originally from Detroit. It was O'Hern and Milverstedt who came up with the paper's somewhat ominous original motto, "To the Death," a mantra that, according to O'Hern, "expressed our determination to succeed," though he noted that "no life has been lost in [the paper's] production."[3] Milverstedt served as original editor of Isthmus until leaving the paper in 1980. O'Hern would remain as the paper's publisher, and write a weekly "Making the Paper" column; his wife, Linda Baldwin, also served as associate publisher.

On July 10, 2014, O'Hern announced that he and Baldwin would retire from Isthmus, and that its parent company would be sold to Red Card Media, a Madison-based company known for the Red Card prepaid dining service for UW—Madison students. Red Card's principal ownership includes the trio of Jeff Haupt, Craig Bartlett, and Mark Tauscher. On March 19, 2020, Red Card ceased Isthmus’ print publications for the first time in forty years due to the COVID-19 pandemic and laid off the newspaper’s entire staff.[4] Isthmus continued to produce content online, notably staff writer Dylan Brogan’s coverage of downtown protests and civil unrest following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, WI. [5]

Haupt and Bartlett transferred the newspaper’s assets to Isthmus Community Media, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization on November 1, 2020.[6] Dylan Brogan, Judith Davidoff, Linda Falkenstein and Bob Koch led the transition to a nonprofit model, vowing to return to print in 2021.

Isthmus, through both its print edition and its website (Isthmus.com), carries investigative and in-depth articles, offers opinions and commentaries on current events, provides incisive coverage of the arts, and features stories on trends and culture in the Madison area. It has won numerous awards for journalistic excellence over the years, including more than three dozen first-place awards from the Milwaukee Press Club and two Golden Quills,[7] the top honor from the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors.[8] Isthmus is a member of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, a North American trade association of alternative newsweeklies.[9]

Notable former staffers include arts writer Kent Williams; editor and TV critic Dean Robbbins; news editor Bill Lueders, who joined the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism in June 2011 after 25 years at Isthmus;[10] and former interns Anthony Shadid and Abigail Goldman,[11] who have gone on to win Pulitzer Prizes.