The Winsted Citizen was originally overseen by the nonprofit Connecticut News Consortium until it was sold in November 2023 to American Business Media LLC.
[1][2] Journalist Andy Thibault served as the paper's editor and publisher while Ralph Nader, a native of Winsted who delivered newspapers as a boy, agreed to provide financial support for the first edition,[3][1] which amounted to $15,000.
[1] The first issue of the Winsted Citizen was printed on February 3, 2023, with 1,000 copies distributed among local libraries and mailed to area residents.
He recommended waiting up to two months to gauge interest before committing to a second edition, but Thibault did not want to delay publishing more issues, saying:[5] I told him and his lawyer we might as well disembowel ourselves.
Thibault planned to cease the publication's print-only stance Nader advocated for and also publish it on a paywalled website.
In a memo, Thibault wrote the paper could not overcome an "untenable deficit" and lost money every month published.