West Seattle Blog Is So Hot Right Now
I know I'm stating the obvious, but if I brought anything away from last night's journalist mash-up, No News Is Bad News, it's that West Seattle Blog is HOT, HOT SHIT right now.
The premise of the event was ... well, I don't remember. But, what it became was a chance for 150ish journalists and a few of their subjects to come together in one room, talk about the state of the industry, pontificate on how we got where we are and who's to blame, and toss around ideas for how to save QUALITY JOURNALISM (not necessarily ink and paper). West Seattle Blog, perhaps more than any other voice in the room, is demonstrating an idea, a business model, and a way to preserve local journalism. They have skin in the game. They're making it work. They're not just talking about it, they're doing it. And doing it well. But they're not saying they've found the digital news solution, either. They've found something that works in West Seattle, not necessarily the rest of the country or even the city.
There's talk of a second "No News Is Bad News" forum, and if I had my druthers, all we'd do would be talk to upstarts like WSB and Capitol Hill Seattle, about the challenges of starting an upstart news organizations. Perhaps a few readers and ad-buyers could be on hand, too, so we could hear what readers and advertisers value in their daily paper, and what the rest of us can do to accommodate, and finance quality journalism. And how we can work together.
More thoughts from last night's situation:
-- P-I: Media workers, academics discuss newspapers' value
-- Angela Dice: "Much was said at last night's No News Is Bad News town-hall style meeting in Seattle -- except good suggestions for new models."
-- Seattlest: It's the End of the News Hole as We Know It
-- And a hell of a lot of tweets
9 comment(s)
MvB says:
Agreed on the WSB/CHS/MyBallard, etc., panel. Since the Skype-ing in of Jay Rosen didn't suck too much, I'd like to hear from San Diego Voice and Minneapolis too. But really when journalists say, at this point, "But what's the solution?" what they really mean is, "How do I keep my job?" And the scary thing is that's not in the cards for so many. Outside of hyperlocal, hyper-lean news orgs like WSB moving to maturity--or the creation of niche topic news sites--there's just downsizing to look forward to. As online news orgs establish themselves, they'll make more money, but right now the "solution" seems to be a lot of hard work and low pay.
Posted On: Friday, Feb. 27 2009 @ 11:35AM
Tracy at WSB says:
Dear Chris, thank you for your headline. Since Patrick and I are both nonsocial geeks, when he gets back from his current round of community chats, he too will be thrilled by your headline. No one has ever called us "hot" before. Oh, I know, you don't mean us personally, but still.
And on a serious note, while I wasn't able to be there in person last night (had to staff the White Center/South Delridge Community Safety Coalition meeting, the stuff neighborhood-level news is made of), I understand there was some crowd hostility/tension toward our wing of the business. I understand the pain and fear. I had to preside over ABCNEWS.com shutting down its Seattle newsroom a decade ago with very few relocating (I was offered, but declined, and at the time wasn't sure where my paycheck was subsequently going to come from either .. Disney eventually laid me off a year later, when shedding hundreds of jobs in the 2001 dot-bust). I am personally hoping that at least some folks are going to form freelance reporting co-ops and will query us - because I'd like to pay part of the way. I have many stories I'd like to do and currently can't break away for an entire day, much less multiple days, to get done, but I have the ideas and the suggested "where to start," and would love to offer to pay underutilized journalists to make those stories happen.
Posted On: Friday, Feb. 27 2009 @ 11:52AM
Monica Guzman says:
Good thoughts on Event 2, Chris. We're hoping it can focus exclusively on the future, now that we've gotten some of the most invested, passionate players to talk about the present. To learn more and get involved, check out nonewsisbadnews.org. Planning starts SOON.
Posted On: Friday, Feb. 27 2009 @ 12:08PM
Patrick Sand says:
uhhhh thanks?
If I had it to do all over I definitely would have word a big name tag that said, "HELLO MY NAME IS JEFF RENNER!"
My thanks go out to our co-host Dylan and Justin Carder from CHS for making it a fun evening.
Posted On: Friday, Feb. 27 2009 @ 1:53PM
Justin says:
Ahh, this is my favorite page on the internet today :) BTW, Patrick is quite ticklish. Who knew!
I would love to talk shop.
Posted On: Friday, Feb. 27 2009 @ 2:17PM
robert ivan says:
On the East Coast, Baristanet.com is killin it too.
I agree, I wan to hear more from these startups and less from old media.
http://www.metaprinter.com/2009/02/qa-with-baristanet-co-owner-liz-george/
Posted On: Friday, Feb. 27 2009 @ 2:25PM
Kathy says:
I'm willing to put a $20 on the table that there was similar gnashing of teeth when radio went "network" and again when TV reached a critical mass.
Disruption is never easy for those in the middle of it, as the gentleman from the audience noted last night in his referene to "steel workers 20 years ago."
Posted On: Friday, Feb. 27 2009 @ 3:16PM
Tracy from WSB says:
Baristanet actually paved the way.
Our little brush-with-fame trivia point is that Patrick actually first met Debbie Galant long ago when they both were TypePad beta testers.
We met her in person in December 2004 during a sort of meetup with some other East Coasters while we were changing planes on our way home from a trip to Florida.
She had already launched Baristanet by then. I suspect somehow that was our subliminal inspiration for eventually following in her pixelprints.
Posted On: Saturday, Feb. 28 2009 @ 10:14PM
Tomario says:
We are the other West Seattle blog and may be found at http://westseattlefunblog.com.
We are accepting of everyone.
Posted On: Thursday, Jul. 16 2009 @ 4:16PM