Electric Fishwrap has moved

Occasionally I attend SPJ meetup events. Usually held once a month on the first Friday of the month, we sit around, drink beer and eat incredibly unhealthy food.

This one was different.

On Monday, the staff at the Seattle P-I was told that the paper was being put up for sale. If a buyer was not found, the paper would either fold or it would move to an online-only production.

Feel free to watch the entire heartbreaking announcement.

Editor Dave McCumber has started a blog called Sixty Days. It’s a really good read, by the way. For years the P-I has told the stories of Seattleites. Now, McCumber tells the stories of the newsroom. With only 60 53(?) days, you can be sure he won’t have time to tell them all.

With this in mind, an emergency SPJ meetup was called (like we ever need an excuse to get together and drink beer, hah). I wanted to show support for friends who work there. So after work I drove to the Whym Diner, not sure what to expect.

It was a somber gathering. But there was also hope. Monica Guzman told me about a plan while holding a ball gown she planned to take with her to the inauguration in D.C.

Thursday, a group of people got together and brainstormed ideas to save the P-I. The result is this page, no news is bad news. It’s pretty bare bones so far, but there’s a lot of potential. I signed up, and am waiting to see if I can do anything to help.

They’ve already got a Twitter hash tag, #nnbn, and a Flickr Page.

Toward the end of my time at the meetup, I was talking with a Seattle Times online worker, whom I’ve never met. As we were talking, I saw the Seattle P-I globe peeking out from between two buildings. If I hadn’t stood in that exact spot, the globe would not have been visible.

The text that rotates around the globe usually states “It’s in the P-I,”but due to damage from winter weather, the “t” in “It’s” was unlit. Will the globe go completely dark? I would like to think not. There are a lot of passionate people who want to see the P-I continue, and I am among them.

But for me, it’s not because it’s the P-I, though I love their online content and the several friends I’ve made there. For every news organization that folds, fewer stories are told and fewer governments and organizations are held accountable. Who will be the voice of record? The PR people? The spin doctors? They won’t get away with that if a good journalist is doing his or her job.

I know the Times will still be around, and that guy I talked to seemed frustrated that nobody cared about the Times. The Times newsroom has probably had probably about 80 layoffs or buyouts in 2008 alone and is likely relying on attrition to balance the 2009 budget. The challenge of the Times is more subtle. Competition makes everyone stronger, and the Times will be less by the loss of the P-I.

Keep an eye on no news is bad news, folks. There are a lot of people who talk the talk about saving journalism. It’s time to walk the walk. We have 53 days and counting.

I’m not sure if I’m creating a blasphemous analogy on the anniversary of our nation’s founding by saying this but here goes.

It may come as a shock to some that newspapers need to make money. Yes, we are the guardians of the First Amendment, a voice for the voiceless and the afflicters of the comfortable.

Newsrooms everywhere are in a downward spiral. Tampa Tribune editor in chief Janet Coats, according to blogger and news intern Jessica DaSilva, decided to reorganize the newsroom and reprioritize the newspaper’s coverage.

Essentially, it’s a shakeup of the traditional beat system. From Mindy McAdams’ blog:

• Managing editors
• 5-6 audience editors — keep in touch with what the print, TV, online audiences want/need
• 5 sections of reporting (all the reporters for print, TV and Web are mashed up together in these groups):

1. Deadline — for breaking/daily news
2. Data — specifically for database stuff
3. Watchdog — for investigative reporting
4. Personal journalism — stuff for people’s every day lives like weather, health, entertainment
5. Grassroots — citizen journalism

Outside of these groups are three “finishing” groups for print, TV and online to determine what stories should be covered and with what medium.

Read more of McAdams’ blog. I really like how she lays out the system for news coverage.

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It is difficult for me to maintain my optimism about the industry when I see a layoff from somewhere around the country literally every day. So far the count for this year alone is nearly 6,000 newsroom jobs, and that’s just the announced amount. Assuredly the real total is much higher.

The LA Times is cutting 150 newsroom jobs and is reducing published pages by 15 percent. The Minneapolis Star Tribune union is working to cut 10 percent from the newsroom budget.

I thought community newspapers were relatively immune. But this downturn in the economy (not a recession?) has proved me wrong. Something is happening, and even my paper is not immune.

I do appreciate my editors’ candor. They give us regular updates on how the paper is doing with ad and subscription sales. Without giving away too many details, reporters have been told to watch their mileage (41 cents a mile now) and watch the number of hours they work past 7 p.m. (we get a 50-cent boost in pay for each hour between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m.). We also have an open business reporter position that may remain open for quite some time.

But I am not one to complain without attempting to find a silver lining — or a solution. The silver lining: We are holding steady on circulation.

One thing is clear: we cannot keep doing the same thing and expect different results (Einstein quote). I’m not so sure about the solution.
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It always hurts when I see yet more layoffs in the industry. I really do love this profession. I think it serves a vital need. But how can we serve the readers when we have a more important group to serve — stockholders.

In this year alone — and it’s not even half over — More than 4,400 news jobs have been slashed across the country. Check out this great Google Map of the layoffs (Thanks CyberJournalist).

More recently, McClatchy announced a 10 percent cut in their work force. I’m surrounded by McClatchy papers here in Washington: Bellingham, Olympia, Tacoma and Kennewick. The Bellingham Herald announced Monday that it is in talks with my paper, the Skagit Valley Herald, to print their paper after we move to our new building (see the building cam down on the right side of the Web page). We’re moving in sometime this fall/winter, and could start printing the Bellingham Herald sometime in 2009.
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