About
About Decaturish.com
Decaturish.com is published online from DeKalb County and in Decatur, GA 30030. The quickest way to reach us is at [email protected]
We provide news and information about Decatur and its neighbors throughout the Atlanta Metro area. This company was started with some basic ideas in mind:
- to promote responsible content creation, meaning that we will never ask our contributors to produce content for free.
- to create a site where our contributors will almost never hear the word “no” when they want to try something new. News should be interesting and innovative.
- a news product that strives to provide the same transparency we expect of our government.
- a news product that’s always accountable to its readers. Without you, we wouldn’t exist.
Advertise with us. To advertise with Decaturish, click here or email [email protected].
Become a Paying Supporter. If you like what we do, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Your support will keep our content free for everyone. Supporters will be eligible for special deals from our advertisers and insider info about what’s going on with Decaturish. For more information, click here.
Decaturish has been cited in national publications, including The Washington Post and USA Today.
How to Contact Us
Got news tips (anonymity guaranteed)? Suggestions? Questions? Want to submit an opinion letter? Email [email protected]. Please note that if you have an event announcement, the best way to make sure it gets posted is to send it the week of, so it can be publicized in the days leading up to the event.
Got a correction? We strive for accuracy in everything that we do and rigorously fact check articles prior to publication. If you see something that isn’t quite right, please let us know so we can correct the record. Email [email protected] and we’ll set things straight.
Caught a typo? Please alert us via email, [email protected], or in our comments section. Be kind. Decaturish is run by humans and humans make mistakes.
Want to comment on a story? To read our comments policy, click here.
Want to submit a letter to the editor? Send it to [email protected]. Note: Letters may be edited for length and content.
To read our Privacy Policy and Terms of service, click here.
Decaturish.com’s mission statement and community standards:
Mission Statement
At Decaturish it is important that coverage recognizes and represents our diverse community. We will do our best to present factual information that represents multiple points of view.
Community Standards
Decaturish follows the Code of Ethics set forth by the Society of Professional Journalists.
Additionally, we hold that:
- Crime coverage should be centered in a place of neutrality. Race should only be used when relevant and coverage should prioritize threats to the community and should avoid reinforcing stereotypes.
- We recognize that content on the internet is always accessible. As such, crime stories should be followed through the court system until there is a resolution. Because of this policy, we do not name crime suspects unless we intend to follow their cases through the court system until there is a resolution.
- Clear conflicts of interest, situations involving the publisher’s financial interests or personal relationships will be acknowledged and another reporter will be assigned whenever possible.
This website is not affiliated with any other private for-profit company. Opinions are those of the individual authors.
Meet the Team
Dan Whisenhunt, Editor & Publisher
I’m an Alabama boy who moved to Atlanta in 2011. In 2012, I moved to the Decatur area, and I think I’ll stay put for awhile. I cut my teeth as a journalist with the Anniston Star in Anniston, Ala. I spent four wonderful years there, three as a reporter and one as an assistant editor. After that, I worked at the Times Free Press in Chattanooga, Tenn. as the county government reporter. From there, I moved to Reporter Newspapers in Sandy Springs, Ga., where I worked as assistant editor and digital content manager.
I started this website in May 2013 as a personal project, done in my spare time. Our page views grew more quickly than I expected and we’ve become a trusted source for local news. I am working to develop a sustainable online-only revenue model that will provide local journalism free of charge to residents in the Atlanta metro area.
Zoe Seiler, Reporter
Nicki Salcedo, Contributor
Nicki Salcedo is a Decatur resident and Atlanta native. She is a novelist, blogger, and a working mom. Chances are good she is the room parent for your child’s class at school, and she is doing a terrible job. She has a degree in English and Creative Writing from Stanford University. Despite her West Coast education, she considers herself Southern by sensibility, if not by birth. Southern things include talking to ghosts, saying hello to strangers, and waving to drivers with nice manners. Nicki is active in Atlanta’s writing community. She is the author of the novel “All Beautiful Things” and “Intersections” based on her essays from Decaturish.
You may see Nicki and her family walking around town. She doesn’t recommend doing the same. Get a cat. Stay at home. But if you do see her, please say “Hello!”
Dean Hesse, Contributor
Photographer Dean Hesse grew up in Decatur and currently resides in Stone Mountain. He began his freelance career as a stringer covering local events for the DeKalb News/Sun in the 1990s and attended the Southeastern Center for the Arts Professional Photography Program. He worked in a professional photo lab as a custom black & white printer for wedding and portrait photographers back in the film days and his photography has appeared in local and national consumer and trade publications.
George Chidi, Contributor
George Chidi is a politician, activist and journalist who writes the weekly “George on Georgia” column for Decaturish.
Katrina Junkin, Operations Manager & Designer
Katrina grew up in Alabama and graduated from The University of Alabama with a degree in digital communications. She learned the ropes of newspaper layout and design at The Anniston Star before moving to Atlanta to work at MailChimp for nearly 9 years. Now she’s helping run things at Decaturish and designing our own digital version of a publication each month.
She is a big nerd who enjoys video games, bullet journaling and embroidery. In the spring and summer, you will find her trying to live at Lake Martin, her happy place.
Lucas Hill, Contributor
Hello! My name is Lucas Hill and I am an 18-year-old high school senior at DeKalb School of the Arts. I am co-editor of my school’s paper, and I love to write, both articles and fiction. In my spare time, I play the drums and guitar, write, and read comic books. I have been working as an intern with Decaturish since the summer of 2022, and have had an awesome time learning from Dan and Zoe and gaining experience in journalism.
Mary Margaret Stewart, Contributor
Mary Margaret started working for Decaturish right after graduating from Decatur High School in 2016. She was assistant editor throughout her time at the University of Georgia and has continued to freelance since graduating in 2020 with degrees in Journalism and Spanish. In her free-time, she enjoys specialty lattes from The Corner Cup Coffee, walks outside with friends, and making a new dinner recipe.
Jaedon Mason, Intern
Hey, I’m Jaedon. I am an intern for Decaturish and sophemore at GSU. I have a politics background, working for campaigns and several non-profits focused around civic engagement. I see this internship in a lot of ways as an extension of that work, directly contributing to “an educated citizenry”. I am also an Art history major, excited to learn more about and share all things creative happening within Decaturish sphere. I think Art and Politics are pretty intrinsically linked and I look forward to exploring their intersections and continuing to learn!