About Columbus Times

Columbus Times has served the community in Columbus, Phenix City and Fort Benning, Georgia, since 1935. Today we publish local news every day at columbustimes.com, free for everyone to read.

What we cover

• Local news and politics, including plain-English guides to every race and question on your ballot.
• Community, business, education, health, sports, arts and culture, and Latino News.
• Food: best-of lists, new openings and our free Restaurant Scores lookup of every Columbus health inspection.
• Your community: post an event flyer on Community Events or send a shout-out, free.

How we report

• Our own stories are built on public records, official data and named sources, and we tell you where our numbers come from.
• When we publish a press release or a story from another news organization, we label it with its source.
• Paid content from advertisers is always labeled Sponsored and appears in our Sponsored section.
• Columbus Times is free and supported by advertising. There's no paywall and no subscription to buy.
• Reader comments are welcome and are reviewed before they appear. Comment rules.

Ownership and funding

Columbus Times is independently owned by Petra Gertjegerdes and Mark Gertjegerdes. Petra is our Managing Director, and Mark is our Editor and Director of Digital & Advertising. We aren't part of a chain or a larger media company. We're paid for by advertising, so the site stays free for everyone to read, and advertisers have no say in our news coverage.

Standards and ethics

• Independence: Advertisers don't decide what we cover or how we cover it. Ads and sponsored stories are always labeled.
• Accuracy: We check names, numbers and dates against public records and official sources before we publish, and we show our math when a story is built on data.
• Fairness: When a story makes a claim about a person or organization, we try to reach them for their side.
• Sources: We name our sources whenever we can and link to the records behind a story so you can check our work.
• Updates: When we add new information to a story after it's published, the page shows when it was last updated.
• Conflicts of interest: If a story involves one of our advertisers or someone connected to our staff, we say so in the story.

Corrections

We work hard to get every fact right. When we make a mistake, we fix it and add a note at the end of the story explaining what changed. If you see an error, please tell us at [email protected] or (706) 575-0452.

Our team

Our original reporting is written by Mark Gertjegerdes (bylined "Mark G") and Emil Gertjegerdes. Press releases and stories from other news organizations are labeled with their source.

Petra Gertjegerdes
Owner and Managing Director

Petra Gertjegerdes is co-owner and managing director of Columbus Times, where she oversees the business side of the paper and its work with community partners. She lives in Columbus and is active as a community volunteer.

Mark Gertjegerdes
Owner, Editor and Web Developer
Director of Digital & Advertising

Mark Gertjegerdes is co-owner and editor of Columbus Times and its sister site, Jax Times. He writes the site's original reporting, bylined "Mark G," with a focus on public records and local data, and he built the site and its free tools, including Restaurant Scores. He also runs our digital and advertising operations.

Emil Gertjegerdes
Writer

Emil Gertjegerdes is a writer for Columbus Times and its sister site, Jax Times. Emil's stories cover local news across the site, including schools, local government, jobs, history, food and things to do, and they also run in The Columbus Times weekly print edition. Reach Emil at [email protected].

Contact us

Other newsrooms may republish our original stories with credit. See our guidelines.