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The Oaklandside wins prestigious award for advancing press freedom and government transparency
By Oaklandside staff
February 24, 2026

The newsroom earned the James Madison Freedom of Information award for exposing systematic violations of open records laws by city officials and challenging Alameda County’s sideshow spectator ban.

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“You Have to Do Good Work. You Also Need a Business.”

  CEO and co-founder Lance Knobel sits down with Newsjunkie “who’s behind the news” on how Cityside built a nonprofit network of community newsrooms across the East Bay.

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Oaklandside’s Ashley McBride, Callie Rhoades receive First Amendment award

The pair are being honored by the First Amendment Coalition with its Free Speech and Open Government Award for their reporting last year on the lead crisis in Oakland public schools.

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Berkeley library foundation honors Cityside as champion of local journalism and all things literary

The Berkeley Public Library Foundation has selected Cityside — the nonprofit publisher of Berkeleyside and its sister sites, The Oaklandside and Richmondside — as the recipient of its 2026 Fred & Pat Cody Award, in recognition of its “outstanding work illuminating our literary and civic landscape.”

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