Zodiac News Service
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| Company type | News agency |
|---|---|
| Industry | Underground press |
| Founded | August 1972 in San Francisco |
| Founders | Jon Newhall and John Farley |
| Defunct | c. 1981 |
| Fate | Defunct |
| Headquarters | Howard Street, |
Area served | United States |
| Products | News bulletins, photographs |
Zodiac News Service was an alternative news agency for radio stations and counterculture media. It was founded in 1972 by Jon Newhall, who had worked at the short-lived Earth News, a service of Earth magazine.[1][2]
Overview
[edit]Zodiac News Service was an alternative national news source founded in 1972 by former Earth News staffer Jon Newhall[1] along with John Farley.[3] (Newhall was the son of Scott Newhall, owner of The Newhall Signal and former long-time editor of the San Francisco Chronicle; and Ruth Newhall, "Chronicle reporter who later became editor of The Signal herself.")[1]
The Zodiac News Service’s mission was to provide reliable news, produced according to journalistic ethics and standards, to outlets seeking sources of news not reported in the mainstream media.[4][5] Zodiac News Service produced daily packets[6] of anti-Vietnam War, civil rights, environment, marijuana, women’s issues, and rock and roll news — also man bites dog items that Newhall called "bizarros."[7] Subscribers included FM and college radio stations, newspapers, and alternative weeklies across the United States and Canada. At its height, Zodiac News Service was carried by hundreds of news outlets.
The Zodiac staff printed the packets in their office on Howard Street in the then low-rent, south-of-market area of San Francisco. Monday through Friday, the staff would choose stories from local and national publications along with original pieces. The articles would be typed up and then run through a mimeograph machine, followed by a collator. The packets were stuffed into envelopes, run through a postage machine, and driven to the post office for delivery to subscribers.
Staff at Zodiac News Service went on to found various publications. In 1977, Zodiac staffers Marlene Edmunds and Anne Millner formed Her Say, a feminist alternative news service, along with Shelley Buck. Zodiac News Service distributed the Her Say dispatches.[8] By 1980, Her Say had over 100 radio subscribers, as well as print outlets like Ms. and Mother Jones.[9]
In 1978, Zodiac News Service staff member Bill Hartman co-founded the San Francisco Bay Times,[10] the first LGBTQ newspaper founded jointly by gay men and women. The paper continues today as a multiplatform publication.[2]
Both Zodiac and Her Say lasted into the early 1980s.[9][11]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Jonathan Newhall, 79". News. California News Publishers Association. March 10, 2021.
- ^ a b Newhall, Barbara Falconer (Feb 27, 2021). "Jonathan Newhall. My Husband of Forty-Four Years". BARBARA FALCONER NEWHALL: A Case of the Human Condition: Riffs on Life From a Veteran Journalist.
- ^ "John Farley Fiancé of Janet C. Wood". The New York Times. May 5, 1974.
He is a founder and general manager of Zodiac News Service, a national college news service in San Francisco.
- ^ Wood, Jim (July 31, 1974). "Henry B's Questions on Assassination Brings Responses". Hays County Citizen. p. 7 – via Corpus Christi Caller-Times.
Rep. Henry B. González, Democrat of San Antonio, finds himself the rally point for those who believe the conspiracy in the assassination of President Kennedy.... The new burst of interest developed after the National Tattler, a weekly tabloid, published a story last November about Gonzalez' doubts. There followed ... an on-air interview with Gonzalez' administrative assistant, Gail Beale, by the Zodiac News Service in San Francisco....
- ^ "Sacred Cows are Newspaper's Primary Target". The Bulletin. Bend Plaza, Bend, Oregon. Feb 1, 1979. p. 6 – via Medill News Service.
Following in the footsteps of The Chained Duck in Paris and the Zodiac News Service in San Francisco, the paper strikes out at all sacred cows....
- ^ "issues #88-111". Access. National Citizens Committee for Broadcasting. 1980. p. 2.
...Zodiac News Service, for example, is distributing a daily news packet by mail....
- ^ Wachsberger, Ken, ed. (2011). Insider Histories of the Vietnam Era Underground Press. Voices from the Underground, Part 1. MSU Press. ISBN 9781609172206.
- ^ "Her Say, Nationally Syndicated News". Whirlwind. Vol. 4, no. 1. October 8, 1981. p. 3.
- ^ a b Gaylor, Annie Laurie (February 1982). "Her Say: A Goldmine of News About Women". Womansight: News for North Texas Women. Vol. 2, no. 8. pp. 1, 11.
- ^ "About Our Cover: June 9, 2022". San Francisco Bay Times. June 9, 2022.
Perhaps the most prominent is Bay Times Co-Founder Bill Hartman.
- ^ Poole, Robert (Oct 1981). "Editor's Notes". Reason.
The Zodiac News Service sent out a story based on the article, which has resulted in radio interviews thus far on eight stations...