Built by Excelsior Citizens
Founded in 2015, the Excelsior Citizen has grown into Excelsior Springs’ only locally owned and operated source of news and information. We are a small, hyper-local news source that focuses on our community, with a clear mission: to consistently and accurately report the stories that shape life in Excelsior Springs. We strive to bring to light the events, issues, and people that matter most. By equipping readers with this knowledge, we hope to empower them to become informed, engaged citizens and to advocate for the things they care about most.
Today, the Citizen reaches thousands each week across multiple platforms: a Facebook group with more than 35,500 members, a page with over 15,000 followers, an e-newsletter delivered to more than 3,500 subscribers, and a growing presence on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube,and beyond. Readers can find almost any genre of news present on our website, where our original reporting is archived for the community: past, present, and future. We hold ourselves to the highest standards of integrity and independence. Our work is more than journalism. It’s the ongoing story of Excelsior Springs itself, and we are committed to adding value to our community.
Our Team
Courtney Cole
She holds an Associate’s degree from Cottey College and a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Education with a minor in Journalism from the University of Saint Mary in Leavenworth, Kansas. Her career includes seven years teaching English and Drama, five years in Missouri state politics as Campaign Finance Director for the State Treasurer, and leadership roles as Chamber Director, Executive Director of the Excelsior Springs Educational Foundation, and Business Community Liaison for Excelsior Springs Job Corps. Today, she continues to combine her skills as an educator, communicator, and organizer to keep Excelsior Springs informed, engaged, and connected.
Jason Cole
His career has spanned teaching, documentary film, animation, and audience engagement. He taught at UCM before joining Ogden Publications, where he became Senior Video Producer and created both in-house and partner content. Jason contributed to the Emmy-nominated “Tough Grit: The Rural American Challenge” and led projects with national sponsors including Purina, Tractor Supply Co., and Kubota Tractor. Skilled in every stage of production: concept, scripting, shooting, editing, and design. Today, he is excited to apply his media production expertise to connect Excelsior Springs with meaningful community stories.
Stephanie Vincent
Elizabeth Barnt
Ethics
At the Excelsior Citizen, the highest and primary obligation in our journalism is to serve the public. We abide by the same standards we expect of others in our community; honesty and fairness. We follow the ethics code outlined by the Society for Professional Journalists.
Ownership, Funding, and Transparency
Excelsior Citizen was founded in 2021 and is owned by Sticky Wicket Media, LLC which is locally owned and operated by S. Jason Cole and Courtney S. Cole. We sometimes partner with our family-owned businesses Morgansites.com and Joe’s Datacenter for web design and technical support for our company.
We feel that everyone in our community should have the ability to be involved in our work and we strive to include a healthy cross-section of sponsors. Any actual or potential conflict of interest that we believe could jeopardize your trust as it relates to a particular story, will be disclosed on that story. This includes business/financial relationships with sources or subjects. When making announcements on behalf of our sponsors, we will clearly label this content.
We include the date of each story’s publication and the name of the author so you know who is presenting you with the information. You can always visit this page to learn more about each of our team members and their professional background. We present only the facts and do not show favoritism towards any entity. Sponsorship by a business or organization does not mean that the Excelsior Citizen endorses or supports the views of those businesses or organizations.
If you are interested in sharing our content, please contact us at info@excelsiorcitizen.com.
Fact Checking and Accuracy Policies
Fact-Checking: The Excelsior Citizen takes every measure to get the information presented to you directly from primary sources, (eye-witnesses, city officials, administrators, and other leaders in the community). We do not report hearsay or rumor. Much of what we report is driven by citizen submissions to our publication. We strive to bring our audience accurate and timely delivery of information and will always do our best to verify information with first-hand sources before publishing content to our website.
We at the Excelsior Citizen strive for accuracy in our reporting and we welcome your help in finding errors or omissions that warrant correction or clarification. Any verified corrections that need to be made to stories after the initial publication will be noted at the end of the corrected article describing the changes that were made to the story and when they were made. If false or misleading information is shared on any of our social networks, or in our newsletter, we will address it on those platforms.
If you feel our reporting is in error or you find a mistake, please email the URL of the article in question with an explanation to info@excelsiorcitizen.com.
We define corrections as any major change to an article, photo caption, headline, graphic, video, or other material. If corrections are made we will mark the change with a footnote on the article explaining the change. A clarification is when our journalism is factually correct but the language used is not as clear or detailed as it should be. If clarification is needed the language will be modified and a clarification footnote added to the story. Clarifications may also be used to update stories in which new facts or reporting has become available since publication.
Our Memberships
