It was started by members of the Society of Professional Journalists Internet discussion list but was never affiliated with the SPJ. The paper has no political, corporate or other affiliation, but was founded to give journalists around the world an opportunity to have a financial stake in their own work. Each story carried by the paper earned equity for the correspondent in profits from advertising and subscriptions, and income when their stories sold to other newspapers. The paper began publication on April 10, 1995, becoming the first daily Internet news site with original news and features. Nine days later, the paper's chief correspondent, former Memphis AP bureau chief Bill Johnson, began breaking news coverage of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma City, which continued until the death of Timothy McVeigh and the conviction of his accomplice. The paper was honored by the ACLU in 2000 with an Upton Sinclair Freedom of Expression Award ("Uppie") for its groundbreaking First Amendment victory in the "Shea v. Reno" U.S. Supreme Court case, in which Internet censorship was ruled unconstitutional.