About Us

Matter is an independent, nonprofit local news source for Columbus.

Matter News is the digital publication of Grey Matter Media, a local news nonprofit based in and dedicated to Columbus, Ohio. We have been producing quality, humanizing, and engaging journalism for and about central Ohio since 2018, and we do it all without charging you a penny.

Our Work

Matter is an independent news source for an engaged audience that seeks out new and challenging perspectives on issues that matter: community, culture, and overlooked voices of Columbus.

As a nonprofit, we don’t believe in paywalls or spamming you with tons of ads. Instead, we believe crucial information about your community should be easy to access, regardless of how much money you make. You can help keep the news free for all by donating.

Community

In the past, Matter News focused coverage exclusively on policing and development. These topics still feature in our Community coverage, which explores a wider range of issues important to Columbus residents, and in particular those often left out of the conversation.

Culture

In addition, we introduced a new Culture section to highlight the artists, musicians and writers who make this city a dynamic place to live.

Voices

We have added a Voices section featuring a rotating cast of columnists who explore everything from the ongoing opioid epidemic to the LGBTQ experience in Columbus.

mission

Our mission is to empower central Ohioans to be informed and engaged community members through news coverage of overlooked issues, culture, and voices of Columbus.

vision

Our vision is an equitable and sustainable community engagement in the greater central Ohio region.

Who We Serve

We serve civically-minded Columbus residents who want humanizing coverage of their community and are underserved by the current media landscape.

We aim to be as accessible as possible, providing our news for free to all, regardless of income. And we aim to publish content that can be understood by all, regardless of education level.

Our History

We were founded in 2018 by millennial women, most of whom identify as LGBTQ. Matter was founded because of a vision shared by 3 people from 3 different worlds: government, journalism, and environmentalism. The common vision was to create creative, engaging, investigative, human-centered, independent, multimedia news for Columbus.

We started with little resources and an all-volunteer team. We then built a nonprofit board and eventually raised enough to pay our people for their work. But, for much of Matter's history, our cofounders and other volunteers have invested tons of time and money into getting us off the ground.