Blog — Washington News Council

PubliCola succeeding in its niche

September 2, 2010 By Heidi Dietrich Leave a Comment

Josh Feit, Photo courtesy of PubliCola

When Scripps Newspapers asked me to profile a new media venture in Seattle for a series they’re running in papers across the country, I immediately thought of PubliCola.

Unlike some of the newer start-ups, the online political site has been around for a year and a half. In addition to that track record, PubliCola is attempting to make it as a for-profit company. Many of the journalism experiments emerging in Seattle are opting for grants and donations. I wanted to see how PubliCola, in this new age of media, was attempting to make it on old-fashioned advertising sales.

I discovered that PubliCola is hanging in there because founder and editor Josh Feit created a lean staff with a very focused mission. The site appeals to political junkies hungry for City Hall, Olympia, and Washington D.C. coverage. When PubliCola experimented with additional, broader content earlier this year, they spent more and didn’t attract more advertisers. And because of this, they retreated back to their original niche.

Scripps Newspapers targeted Seattle for one of the stories in its media coverage because this city is full of journalists who are experimenting. We can’t say for certain yet which ventures will take root, but PubliCola is an interesting study of a work in progress. They aren’t profitable just yet, but Feit believes he’s steering the operation in that direction.

The article on PubliCola appeared in the Kitsap Sun this week and will run in other Scripps papers and online. Here is a link to the piece.

Filed Under: Featured Posts, Industry

What I Read: Bill Dietrich

September 2, 2010 By Heidi Dietrich Leave a Comment

Bill Dietrich With new media options cropping up every week and existing media changing so rapidly, we at the Washington News Council have been watching our own news reading habits evolve. It made us wonder, are others in Seattle experiencing the same?

We decided to launch a regular blog series called “What I Read.” We’re picking journalists, politicians, foodies, celebrities, business leaders, and others in the Puget Sound region and asking them about their current news consumption habits.

We’ll feature new individuals on a fairly regular basis. To kick this series off, Washington News Council president John Hamer suggested I reach out to my own father, Bill Dietrich. He’s currently writing historical fiction (see www.williamdietrich.com) and teaching environmental journalism at Western Washington University. Before his life as a novelist, my dad worked as a Seattle Times reporter for over two decades, and was part of the Pulitzer Prize winning team that covered the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Here are my dad’s answers to our questions on his changing news habits. Look for more personalities to be featured in weeks to come.

1. What are your favorite local news outlets? Why?

I live in Anacortes, so “local” for me is the Anacortes American (a weekly), the Skagit Valley Herald, and The Seattle Times.

2. What do you consider “must reads” every day? Must watch? Must hear?

Must read the above, although I’m frustrated that The Seattle Times has become intensely “Seattle-centric” and less regional. I often read NY Times and USA Today on my ipad, and Wall Street Journal is used as my home page on my computer. TV is usually KING, cable news stations (for a big story) or PBS (for background.) Radio is usually NPR (both KUOW and KPLU) and satellite radio stations including NPR, CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg.

3. Do you consume news through: print, television, radio, laptop, smart phone, ipad, podcasts, other?

All of those listed except podcasts. Occasionally YouTube.

4. Do you use Facebook, LinkedIn, and/or Twitter for news and information?

No.

5. What online news sites or aggregators do you visit regularly?

NY Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today. Sometimes Huffington Post, Sightline, Crosscut.

6. Do you regularly visit any individual blogs for news, analysis and opinion?

No.

7. Have your news consumption habits changed in the last few years? If so, how?

I consume more news from a wider array of outlets for less money (except for the gadgets) because of improved wireless and broadband and because they’re free. The ipad has changed my news browsing habits. I can read more while waiting.

8. Do you read for fun? If so, what? Last novel you read? Non-fiction book?

I’d better, since I want people to buy my novels for fun. Just finished Ken Follett’s “World Without End” and am reading Steig Larsen’s “The Girl Who Played With Fire.” Just finished Nicholas Wade’s “Before the Dawn” (on human evolution) and am reading “Empire of the Summer Moon.” (Comanche Indians)

Filed Under: Featured Posts, What I Read

Ira Glass on broadcasting’s “failure of craft”

August 23, 2010 By John Hamer 5 Comments

A radio personality filling a concert hall with fans? That’s pretty rare, but it happened Aug. 21 when Ira Glass, host of “This American Life” (TAL) on National Public Radio (NPR) appeared at Seattle’s Benaroya Hall. The place was packed.

Introducer Dan Savage, publisher of The Stranger, which co-sponsored the event along with KUOW-FM and Northwest Associated Arts, dead-panned that Glass “slept his way to the top…which sounds like fun until you remember he works in radio.”

Savage, who writes a sex-advice column, is a regular contributor to TAL. “He [Glass] keeps me around just for the sex advice,” Savage quipped, adding that “I know what Ira likes” but “I can’t tell you.”

(Glass is married. His wife is from Iraq, he said later in the program, and her family fled that country because of Saddam Hussein.)

After Savage’s intro, the house lights went out and Glass’s distinctive voice was heard: “I tried to talk them into doing the entire show in the dark, but they said no,” he joked. For those who find his voice somewhat affected, that’s really just the way he talks.

Glass described TAL – a program he originated in 1995 after 16 years as an NPR employee — as “applying journalism to things it doesn’t normally get applied to.” His goal is to add “fun,” “joyfulness,” and “surprise” to stories, he said. He noted that this “never happens in broadcast journalism,” which is “a failure of craft.”

Glass noted wryly that he used to listen to NPR stories thinking: “I would be a better person if I can get through this story.” The crowd applauded knowingly.

As TAL fans know – and they are a devoted group – Glass consistently tells interesting stories in an engaging way, unlike much of the broadcast media.

“Part of the job of journalism is not to describe what’s new, but to describe what is,” Glass said. “The world they describe is so much smaller than the real world.”

This is “one of the lousy things about doing journalism,” he added – i.e., that much reporting focuses on “massive, unsolvable” world problems. That “makes most of journalism such a drag and also makes it so inaccurate,” he said.

Describing broadcast journalists, he said that they sound like “talking robots….the esthetics of the language is so stiff” He called that “one of the reasons why journalism is having such a tough time now.” Television journalism is “doing terribly,” he said.

“The only people who are doing well is public radio,” Glass boasted – to more applause from his loyal fans. Seattle-Tacoma listeners on KUOW and KPLU make up TAL’s third-largest regional audience nationwide.

“Opinion in all its forms is kicking the ass of journalism,” he said. However, opinion and commentary – including much that is on NPR (even on TAL) – is clearly a major part of journalism. Surely Glass would acknowledge that. In fact, the lines between reporting and editorializing have crumbled, if not fallen.

Glass mentioned Glenn Beck, Rachel Maddow and Jon Stewart as primarily news commentators, adding that he’s a fan of Maddow and Stewart. As for Beck, he said: “That guy is fascinating,” but moved on without adding much detail. Too bad. Maybe Glass will do a story on Beck sometime. That would be interesting to hear.

Glass spent a lot of time talking about his approach to story-telling. A story is “not about logic, it’s not about reason, it’s about emotion,” he said. “You can use incredibly banal action to create suspense.” On radio, “you tell a story like you tell it in real life.”

He played several sample cuts, complete with the brief musical interludes that are a staple of TAL. His story about the veteran who allegedly dumped his wife’s ashes in a parking lot was fascinating; the story of the couple who went to a swingers’ party was really lame.

TAL’s basic formula is “action, action, action” followed by “thought,” Glass said. He noted wryly that he had “spent three years of [his] life inventing” that format – then realized that his rabbi did exactly the same thing, as did every other deliverer of religious sermons. In fact, he quipped, the entire Bible follows that formula!

TAL now has a staff of eight (it used to have four), and they review 25 to 30 ideas a week to produce three or four stories for the program. He invited the audience to suggest story ideas. (Hey, Ira, how about a story on the “TAO of Journalism”?)

“From the moment we wake up to the moment we go to bed, we’re bombarded by stories,” Glass said – on television, radio, print, and the internet – but “it’s rare to have stories that we can empathize with and that can touch you.”

That’s TAL’s goal, he said: “We live in such a divided country, it’s rare to get inside somebody else’s shoes. That’s what we try to do.”

Glass got a standing ovation. Clearly TAL fans think he succeeds — and most of the time, he does. TAL plays a unique and valuable role in American journalism and in American life. More journalists – print, broadcast and online – could take a lesson.

Filed Under: Broadcasting, Ethics, Featured Posts, JOURNALISM, TAO Tagged With: accountability, broadcasting, media ethics, News council, NPR, openness, public broadcasting, public radio, radio, storytelling, TAL, tao of journalism, transparency

Kirsten Grind at work on WaMu book

August 16, 2010 By Heidi Dietrich 1 Comment

A month ago, Kirsten Grind pounded out daily banking industry updates in the hectic downtown Seattle Puget Sound Business Journal newsroom.

These days, she’s more likely to be found driving around the state to the homes of aging former Washington Mutual executives. Grind spent an entire recent weekday in Skagit County with onetime WaMu CEO Lou Pepper. The two talked for hours.

“It’s therapy for them,” Grind said. “There’s a lot of anger and sadness about what happened.”

Grind’s life took a dramatic turn this summer when she began a nine-month leave from the PSBJ to write a book about the demise of WaMu. She landed the book contract after covering WaMu’s story extensively for the Business Journal, and receiving a prestigious Pulitzer nomination for her efforts.

(Full disclosure: I worked with Grind at the PSBJ and remain good friends with her. I’ve been hearing about her journey into the book writing world for the past several months, and found the project so interesting that I thought others would enjoy reading about it as well.)

Grind stumbled into the book world by chance. While she loves journalism, she’d never dreamed of penning her own book. But early this year, Seattle literary agent Elizabeth Wales heard Grind talking about WaMu on local public radio station KUOW. This could be a book, Wales thought.

Grind’s story with WaMu began when she took a job as the banking and finance reporter for the PSBJ in spring of 2008. A relative newcomer to Seattle, Grind knew very little about WaMu.

Six months later, on Sept. 25, 2008, federal regulators seized the bank. Grind was at a best friend’s wedding in California. She came back to Seattle, figuring the story was over. Not even close.

At the urging and support of PSBJ managing editor Al Scott, Grind spent the next year doing extensive investigative reporting on why WaMu failed. At times, she wanted to give up. She requested thousands of documents through public information requests, and received many back with pages blacked out. Since many sources refused to talk to her on the phone, Grind tracked down the addresses of former executives and bank regulators and drove to their homes.

“It was pulling teeth the entire way,” Grind said.

Grind’s efforts paid off. On a Friday in April, she signed on with Wales. That Monday, she found out she was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Two months later, several publishing houses entered a bidding war for her book, with Simon and Schuster winning out.

“I had a really lucky few months,” Grind said. “I worked really hard to get to the bottom of WaMu, and it set me up as someone who really knows the story.”

Grind believes publishers were eager for the book because readers want to understand the financial crisis. The WaMu story in particular sparks interest, Grind said, because unlike a massive New York City investment firm, the average person had a WaMu account or worked for the bank.

“People can relate to WaMu,” Grind said.

On a recent Green Lake walk, Grind and I talked about why someone like myself – an avid reader, but not a banking or finance guru – would buy her book. We agreed that the various tragic personalities behind WaMu, from former CEO Kerry Killinger to the shareholder who lost everything, would sell the story.

“I don’t want to write a book only for people interested in banking,” Grind said. “I think a lot of people could find this fascinating because WaMu has such a great cast of characters.”

Grind began her nine-month leave from the PSBJ on Aug. 2. She’s adjusting to life away from a bustling newsroom, and learning how to plan her own daily schedule.

“It’s hard to not have coworkers running around and an editor breathing down your neck,” Grind said. “I miss the newsroom activity, but I also love having this big project I’m working on.”

Since Grind’s book covers the last 30 years of WaMu, she’s beginning with the 1980s. For the past few weeks, she’s been spending days with the former executives, driving to everywhere from Carnation to Anacortes.

When Grind begins researching the bank’s more recent past, she’ll make trips to California and the East Coast to talk to the bank’s former mortgage executives and federal regulators. WaMu’s onetime home loan center is just a half hour from her parents’ home in the San Diego area, so she’s planning on research time in California.

As for her own next chapter after WaMu, it’s too early for Grind to know.

“I never thought I’d write a book,” Grind said. “This has really been a surprise.”

Filed Under: Featured Posts, Industry

New journalism ventures in the works

August 10, 2010 By Heidi Dietrich 4 Comments

In a city filled with unemployed reporters, creative talent, and entrepreneurial spirit, journalism experiments abound.

Among the new efforts brewing in Seattle are 10 projects that came out of the “Journalism That Matters” conference at the University of Washington in January. The four-day conference, “Re-imagining News and Community in the Pacific Northwest,” brought about 250 members of the media and the broader community together to brainstorm ideas on journalism’s future.

Recent years in Seattle have been marked by the closure of two daily newspapers (the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the King County Journal) and ever-shrinking staffs at other local news outlets, so the discussions seemed particularly timely and urgent.

“In times of crisis, people start talking about new possibilities,” said Mike Fancher, former executive editor of The Seattle Times who was one of the dozen or so conference organizers and stewards.

Journalism That Matters was co-founded by Peggy Holman of Bellevue and Stephen Silha of Vashon Island. She’s author of motivational books “The Change Handbook” and “Engaging Emergence.” Silha is a former Christian Science Monitor reporter and now a documentary filmmaker.

JTM meetings have been held around the country since 2001, but the Pacific Northwest efforts are unique. In Seattle, business and civic leaders are as involved as members of the media, said Fancher and Holman.

“Seattle has attracted the broadest mix of activists,” Holman said. And the conference organizers, who now call themselves the “Collaboratory,” continue to meet monthly to help nurture the projects that spun out of the winter confab.

Since January, 10 different groups have been moving forward on various initiatives. Last month, representatives from nearly all of the groups met to report on their progress.

(Full disclosure: John Hamer, president of the Washington News Council, is a member of the Collaboratory and the WNC is sponsoring two of the projects. I, however, have had no involvement in this group.)

Whether all 10 initiatives that came out of the JTM Pacific Northwest conference can score the necessary funding to survive remains uncertain. While some have obtained initial grants, others remain unfunded. Fancher acknowledged that each will face heavy competition for financing.

“It won’t be easy,” Fancher said. “But the passion people have for this is encouraging.”

Here is a brief run-down of the 10 initiatives:

1. Seattle Digital Literacy Initiative: The UW School of Communications is funding this project for two years, led by Sarah Stuteville of the Common Language Project. Journalists visit local schools, leading discussions about the role of the media and teaching students how to become more informed consumers of the media, as well as better story-tellers.

2. Building on Transparency: Journalist and former Seattle Times op-ed writer Matt Rosenberg is leading this project, which is developing a public document database called “Public Data Ferret.” The project is part of a bigger public engagement project in King County called Countywide Community Forums, which has received private funding from donors such as the Spady family, owners of Dick’s Drive-In Restaurants.

3. Abundant Journalism: Led by Fancher, this group eventually wants to link journalism projects and initiatives with potential donors.

4. Microfinance: The initiative would provide business and micro-finance training for journalists who want to launch new media ventures.

5. Media Mapping: Jacob Caggiano of the Washington News Council is working on a project that maps media news and information outlets across the state. A detailed spreadsheet provides their contact information. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provided matching funds for the WNC’s efforts.

6. TAO of Journalism – Transparent, Accountable, Open: Another Washington News Council effort, led by John Hamer, asks individual journalists and news organizations to sign a pledge and display a seal on their websites committing to be transparent about who they are, accountable if they make mistakes, and open to other points of view.

7. Global Health Reporting: In a nod to the significant global health work being done in Seattle, members of this initiative, led by Sanjay Bhatt of The Seattle Times, are surveying the sector to see what needs to be covered in the future.

8. Seattle Happiness Index: This group, led by Michael Bradbury of REALscience, is developing the Seattle Happiness Index, which would measure community well-being

9. Civic Communications Commons: This group wants to create an online commons that will serve as an information hub and conversation place for news topics. They plan to look for partnerships within the civic, business, and media communities.

10. JTM Website Technology: Journalism That Matters Pacific Northwest is developing a new website, expected to go live this month.

Heading forward, the Journalism That Matters Pacific Northwest Collaboratory is scheduling monthly presentations by the individual initiative teams, and the entire group plans to check in quarterly.

Time will tell if any of these projects gain traction and become sustainable. What do you think of these efforts, and which of them would you like to see move forward?

Filed Under: Industry, JOURNALISM

Seattleites hungry for history

August 3, 2010 By Heidi Dietrich Leave a Comment

The Luna Park amusement park in West Seattle in 1907. From the Seattlepi.com photo archives.

Seattleites can’t get enough of history lessons these days.

That is, if the lessons include taverns, amusement parks, sports stadiums, or other popular topics from the last 30 to 40 years.

“Very few people are going to click on an old photo of a Seattle pioneer,” said Feliks Banel, a local producer and historian. “They want to read about things they can identify with.”

Banel has been spreading history to the masses in a variety of new venues these days. In June, he began a series for Seattlepi.com called Seattle Rewind. The weekly episodes include a podcast and historic photos.

So far, Banel has covered the amusement parks of Seattle’s past, stadium plans that never came together, J.P. Patches, Seattle radio, Seafair, and the 4^th of July. Next up are pieces on the Beatles coming to Seattle and the Seahawks.

Banel tries to tie the history pieces to current events. The Beatles, for instance, played in Seattle in August of 1964. The Seahawks just started their pre-season training camp. Seattlepi.com editors haven’t given the project an end date, as they want to see what kind of attention the stories receive.

Banel made the transition to freelance journalist in late 2008. Before that, he worked as deputy director at the Museum of History and Industry, and then at the Seattle Channel. He decided to go his own path in order to do the projects he wanted to, not realizing that the economy would crash just as he quit his job.

“The first year was rough,” Banel said.

At the same time, Banel recognized that the decline of traditional journalism and the rise of online news meant openings for individuals like him. News outlets need freelance producers to fill segments that regular staff members once took care of.

With web journalism, Banel can easily utilize historic videos and photos to tell a story. The Seattlepi.com pieces, for instance, take advantage of Hearst’s extensive historic photo collection.

“History has become so much more accessible in the last 15 years,” Banel said. “A 50-year-old television clip is as easy to watch as yesterday’s television clip.”

In addition to the Seattlepi.com podcasts, Banel writes for Crosscut.com, talks about recent history on KOMO’s “Not Quite Historian” twice a week and produces the occasional history radio program for KUOW on a segment called “This NOT Just In.”

So far, he’s created three shows for KUOW, and they’ve signed on for 10 more. Planned programs include the 1962 Columbus Day storm, John Lennon’s assassination, the Kingdome implosion, and the War of the Worlds broadcast.

Banel believes Seattleites are eager to learn about history, so long as it is somewhat recent history. Unlike cities like Boston, Seattle doesn’t have the weight of hundreds of years of stories.

“The paint hasn’t dried yet in Seattle,” Banel said. “We’re still shaping our identity to the outside world, and we gravitate toward the more recent.”

Filed Under: Industry, JOURNALISM

With oil spill coverage, Grist sees record web traffic

July 27, 2010 By Heidi Dietrich 1 Comment

An oil skimmer works on the Gulf Coast spill

This spring, the BP oil spill caused environmental devastation of epic proportion in the Gulf Coast.

It also brought record breaking traffic to Seattle online environmental publication Grist.

Grist saw its highest readership numbers yet in the first half of this year. For January through June, site visits were up 30 percent over the same period in 2009. Grist now attracts an average of 800,000 unique visitors each month from readers around the country.

Grist’s staff members cite oil spill coverage as one key factor in the jump, along with the public’s overall heightened interest in the environment and Grist’s own efforts in social media outreach.

Rebecca Farwell, Grist’s general manager, said the site’s oil spill stories were among the most clicked on this spring, and the content was in turn picked up by a number of other national sites.

“The oil spill definitely had an impact,” Farwell said. “People are really passionate about it.”

Grist wasn’t the only news outlet to benefit from oil spill intrigue. Left wing magazine Mother Jones saw record breaking traffic on its web site, with visits this spring up 125 percent from the same time period last year. Mother Jones staff attributed the jump to its team coverage of the BP oil spill.

Since its inception as an online environmental newsletter 11 years ago, Grist has been growing steadily. The nonprofit now has 25 staff members, which include 9 people in editorial.

The growth has come, in part, by Grist reaching out to young readers with its cheeky, humorous coverage of serious topics. This year, Grist worked to build up its Twitter and Facebook presence to draw more of the younger demographic.

Grist has also been striving to devote more attention to green urban topics. In recognition that more people now live in cities than do not, the site started to run more stories on transportation, waste, energy, architecture, and other urban living issues.

This fall, Grist plans to launch a redesigned home page. The site also plans extensive coverage on gubernatorial candidates and their environmental records leading up to November elections around the country.

Filed Under: Industry

Welcome to our new, improved website!

July 26, 2010 By John Hamer 2 Comments

the Washington News Council Please come in! Take a look around. Make yourself at home.

We have completely redesigned the WNC website. (It’s about time, some say…)

Our goal is to make this site timely, engaging, interactive, helpful and fun! We hope it will become a key forum for discussion of news-media matters in Washington state – including ethics, accuracy, fairness, issues, people and trends.

Check out these features on our new site:

WNC Community – Join our online community and be part of stimulating Group and Forum discussions.
Latest Topics – Weigh in on current media debates – and suggest new ones.
WNC Blog – Read our recent blog posts and please add your comments.
NewsTrust – Visit this WNC partner site, then start submitting and reviewing stories from Washington state news media.
Twitter Stream – Follow “tweets” from savvy media people statewide.
WNC Projects – Scan our expanding list of projects and give us feedback.
Washington News Lab – Help us encourage innovative new media experiments.
Complaint Process – If you have been the subject of inaccurate, unfair or unethical media stories, consider filing a formal complaint and using our effective process.
TAO of Journalism – Take the “TAO Pledge” to be Transparent, Accountable and Open, and display the “TAO Seal” on your website.
Supporting Members – Become a “NewsHound” or “News Junkie” and help the WNC continue our vital work to promote media excellence statewide.
100 Friends of WNC – Join our distinguished group of friends and receive special benefits, including two VIP tickets to our Gridiron West Dinner.
Archives Page – Review the WNC’s accomplishments over the past 12 years.
Gridiron West Dinner – Reserve your tickets or tables for our 12^th annual gala event, a fun-filled “toast” to five former Mayors of Seattle on Nov. 12, 2010!

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Announcements, Featured Posts Tagged With: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Seattle editors weigh in on anonymous comments

July 21, 2010 By Heidi Dietrich 4 Comments

(Weigh in with your own thoughts in our community forum)

It happens every time a news story on a controversial topic hits the web: Angry rants, nasty name-calling, personal attacks, and defensive replies.

All can be found regularly in the comments sections of online news articles and opinion columns, including many blogs. Some topics, such as public safety, racial conflicts, immigration policy, and urban bicycling, seem to draw the most vehement responses.

Many readers – probably now the majority – post their comments anonymously. Unlike printed letters to the editors, on which most newspapers ask writers to include a real name, street address and telephone number for verification, online news sites don’t typically require full public identification. Even if commenters are asked to register online, they may use nicknames to conceal their true identities.

The Buffalo News recently became the first major American daily newspaper to ban anonymous comments on its website, which provoked nationwide discussion on the policy.

As a journalist, regular online news consumer, and occasional commenter, I go back and forth on my own view toward anonymous comments. I’m accustomed to putting my name next to my opinions in articles and on the web, so I don’t mind identifying myself in a discussion forum. I figure that if I’m willing to write an opinion, I should be willing to back it up with my name.

However, I’m also well aware that many people – including some of my friends and family – are far less comfortable leaving their names on open forums on the Internet. They aren’t accustomed to being a public face or name, and they worry

about privacy and personal attacks. In some cases, they may be commenting on topics that relate to their own workplace or social networks, and feel they can be more honest by remaining anonymous.

As an advocate for free and open dialogue, I’d rather see comment sections filled with posts rather than completely empty. And, for my own personal needs as a journalist, comments often help me write a better story or follow up news with subsequent articles. I do cringe, however, at times when reading particularly nasty attacks in online forums.

When Washington News Council president John Hamer asked me if I wanted to weigh in on the issue, I decided that given my own conflicted views on the subject, I’d like to hear what local editors are doing and how they feel about anonymous comments. I emailed questions to The Seattle Times, Seattle Weekly, Crosscut, West Seattle Blog, and the Federal Way Mirror, and a few other news outlets that did not respond. Here are their responses:

WNC welcomes summer intern Colin Moyer

July 19, 2010 By Kathy Schrier Leave a Comment

WNC intern Colin Moyer updates new donor database.

Joining the WNC team this summer is Colin Moyer, who just completed his first year at Occidental College in Los Angeles.

As a high school senior at Curtis High School near Tacoma, Colin made a name for himself when he approached school officials about starting a school sponsored newspaper. School administrators said sure, but they insisted on reviewing content of any paper before allowing it to go to press. Finding this unacceptable, Colin pulled together a group of Curtis students, who launched “The Viking Underground” — an off campus student-produced paper. They printed and distributed the paper during the entire 2008-09 school year, covering a range of topics relating to the school community, and did so without prior review by school authorities.

For his efforts on behalf of student press rights, Colin received a Special Recognition Award from the Washington Journalism Education Association. He also received the National and Washington state ACLU Youth Activist Award for outstanding commitment to the protection and promotion of civil liberties.

Colin now works on the staff of the Occidental College newspaper, and looks forward to starting his sophomore year there in the fall.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous

Trendy online web deals fuel neighborhood news sites

July 15, 2010 By Heidi Dietrich Leave a Comment

Justin Carder

In recent months, the Seattle start-up Neighborlogs has stumbled across the perfect match: neighborhood news sites and online web deals.
Ad dollars from popular coupon sites like Groupon, Tippr, and Living Social are now fueling the local news sites Neighborlogs supports. Companies like Groupon can pay a package rate for their discounts to appear on all 22 neighborhood and city news sites on Neighborlogs’ Seattle Indie Advertising Network. The network’s members include sites like Central District News, My Green Lake, Wallyhood.org, Seattle Crime, Publicola, and Seattle Transit Blog.

“The Groupons of the world are all trying to buy web traffic cheaply,” said Justin Carder, vice president of business development for Neighborlogs. “Neighborhood news sites make sense for them.”

The influx of ad revenue from coupon sites marks a shift for Neighborlogs, which previously found its advertising from more traditional venues. Service providers such as dentists, lawyers, and real estate agents used to be the main advertising clients. While Neighborlogs still sees some of that traffic, online deal sites now provide the bulk of business.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Industry Tagged With: CapitolHillSeattle.com, Justin Carder, My Green Lake, Scott Durham, Seattle

Save the Date! Gridiron West Dinner on Nov. 12!

July 8, 2010 By John Hamer Leave a Comment

SAVE THE DATE for the Washington News Council’s 12th annual Gridiron West Dinner — Friday, Nov. 12, 2010, at the Washington State Convention Center. We will “toast” (i.e., roast) five former Mayors of Seattle — Wes Uhlman, Charles Royer, Norm Rice, Paul Schell and Greg Nickels. We’re happy to have David Horsey and his “flying pies” drawing back for our invitations and programs. Mike Egan will emcee again this year, and Jim Anderson/Cabaret Productions will provide music and songs. Reception starts at 5:30 pm, with dinner and program at 7 pm. This has become a favorite event of the fall season, with video, photographic, musical and personal “toasts” to our honorees. Tables and tickets are available now. Call our office (206.262.9793) for more details.

Filed Under: Announcements, Events

Pulitzer cartoonist David Horsey takes on new media

July 8, 2010 By Heidi Dietrich Leave a Comment

A Horsey cartoon of Las Vegas, from the Death Valley piece

After decades as a newspaper cartoonist, David Horsey is trying out a new medium.

The two-time Pulitzer Prize winning Hearst cartoonist has been experimenting with narrative film. Horsey signed on with MSNBC to create a series of short cartoon and photo films this spring. The History Channel funded the first round of shorts, and Horsey is currently seeking a funder for the next phase of the project.

Horsey, who pens cartoons for Seattlepi.com and Hearst papers around the country, first met with MSNBC and Hearst’s directors of new media last fall.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Industry, JOURNALISM

Tom Paulson launching global health blog for NPR

June 28, 2010 By Heidi Dietrich Leave a Comment

Tom Paulson

Former Seattle Post-Intelligencer health and science reporter Tom Paulson will be breaking new ground with a global health and development blog for National Public Radio.

Paulson will be working at local NPR affiliate KPLU during an 18-month trial run for the global health blog. He believes there’s no better place for the experiment than Seattle.

“There are hundreds of organizations working on global health and development in this region,” Paulson said. “It’s really amazing what’s happening here.”

The blog, which is slated to launch in late July, is part of a larger NPR effort called The Argo Project. Launched last year, the project selected 12 cities around the country to start topic-specific blogs. Boston’s NPR affiliate, for example, will tackle health policy, while Philadelphia will cover music. The entire project has an estimated budget of $3 million.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Industry, JOURNALISM

WNC Awards Two $2,000 Scholarships

June 25, 2010 By Washington News Council Leave a Comment

The Washington News Council awarded two $2,000 scholarships to students planning careers in communications. The scholarships are named after the late Dick Larsen and Herb Robinson, both longtime editors at The Seattle Times.

WNC President John Hamer, who worked with Larsen and Robinson for many years on The Times’ editorial board, presented the scholarships during a June 24 reception at the WNC office, located above the Pyramid Alehouse in Seattle.

The 2010 WNC Dick Larsen Scholarship winner is:

Peter Sessum, 38, a junior at the University of Washington who is studying journalism. He is a staff writer for The Daily. He was formerly a student at Edmonds Community College and editor-in-chief of the Triton Review campus newspaper.

Before that, Peter was a liaison officer with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan and an international advisor in the poppy-eradication program there.

He is a member of the Asian American Journalists Association, the Society of Professional Journalists, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Veterans of Foreign Wars.

John Hamer & Pete Sessum

In an essay accompanying his scholarship application, Peter wrote:

“Media is the watchdog of the government, but someone needs to watch the watchdog. That is the purpose of the people. As journalists, we should be transparent, accountable and open. And the people should be able to expect that of us. It is the duty of the reporter to inform the people of the issues at hand. Then, the people can make informed decisions.”

The 2010 Herb Robinson Scholarship winner is:

Alexander Herbig, 18, who is graduating from Mountlake Terrace High School and will attend Seattle Pacific University in the fall. He plans to study communications, global development and psychology.

During high school, Alex was a Young Life leader and camp counselor. His senior project was Simply Haiti, which launched two days before the Haitian earthquake and raised $30,000 for a feeding program and earthquake relief. He also was a photojournalist and editorial writer for The Hawkeye school newspaper, and MVP on the junior varsity soccer team.

Alex Herbig & John Hamer

In an essay accompanying his application, Alex wrote:

“I feel as though trust is a journalist’s best friend. Journalists have the ability to twist a story just about any way they want, making the good guy look like the villain or the other way around. Not only that but their stories can create some serious consequences for the person or company in the story. With this power comes the responsibility of the journalist to be trustworthy.”

Scholarships are funded by donations from individuals, foundations and corporations. Since 2000, the WNC has awarded 22 scholarships with a total value of nearly $30,000.

CONTACT: John Hamer, President, WNC – 206.262.9793 (info@wanewscouncil.org)

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WNC Awards Two $2,000 Scholarships

The 2010 WNC Dick Larsen Scholarship winner is:

The 2010 Herb Robinson Scholarship winner is:

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