How we do the news.

Who we are

Morning Citizen is an independent daily email for American cities, starting with Tampa Bay. We don't have a newsroom of reporters and we don't pretend to. We read what the region's journalists have reported, choose the stories that matter to our readers, and write them up — short, plain and original — alongside the forecast, things to do, a community block and a puzzle.

How we write the news

Every news item is an original summary written by us. We don't copy, excerpt or closely paraphrase the articles we draw on. The routine each morning: read the public feeds of the outlets covering the city, pick the handful of stories readers need, write our own headline and a brief factual summary, and name and link the original reporting.

Our job is to tell you what's happening and send you to the people who reported it. Local journalism is what we depend on, so we point readers toward it, not away from it.

Writing process and use of AI

Morning Citizen is produced with human editorial judgment and modern writing tools, including AI-assisted drafting. A person selects the stories and applies the guidelines; the tools help keep the writing consistent and short. A human is in the loop on every edition. If something reads wrong or gets a fact wrong, email nathan@morningcitizen.com and we'll fix it.

Credit and links

Every story names its source and links to the original article. Those links carry rel="nofollow", which tells search engines we're crediting the source rather than claiming any ranking value from it.

Where the news comes from

We read the public RSS feeds of U.S. news organizations — the local papers, TV stations and public radio covering each metro, plus national outlets — along with city, county, venue and community listings for events. We have no commercial arrangement with any of them.

Independence and sponsorship

Morning Citizen is editorially independent. Sponsors and advertisers never influence which stories we cover or how we write them, and anything paid is labeled as sponsored in the edition. Our advertising policy spells out what we accept and what we turn down.

Affiliate links

Morning Citizen doesn't currently use affiliate links. If that changes, this page will say where they appear and how they're marked, and a commission will never decide what we recommend.

Accuracy and corrections

We work hard to get things right and we correct mistakes quickly. If you see an error in any edition, email nathan@morningcitizen.com with the date and the item and we'll fix it in the next edition.

Content disputes

If you're a publisher or creator and believe Morning Citizen has used your work in a way that infringes your rights, write to nathan@morningcitizen.com and identify the specific item. We review every good-faith request promptly and will amend or remove content where that's the right call.

Contact

Editorial inquiries: Nathan Murphy, Editor — nathan@morningcitizen.com. The publishing company is named on our terms and privacy pages.