Get ready for Seattle's PostGlobe
Vets of the recently folded print edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer will be launching their new venture on Tuesday, April 14, according to reporter Kathy Mulady. Mulady relayed the news while attending the Seattle Neighborhood Coalition monthly meeting in Ballad on Saturday, April 11. The launch of Seattlepostglobe.org is timed to coincide with the Seattle Mariners season home opener and will feature work by former P-I sports writers like the brilliant Art Thiel who is freelancing since the paper's closure, including for the P-I's own Web effort, Seattlepi.com.
The group is working out of offices at the KCTS studios for the next few months and is scrambling to get everything in place for the launch (like libel insurance). KPLU-FM, the public radio station, is also looking at being part of a cooperative entity that would share news resources, according to an interview of the Seattlepostglobe.org's Kery Murakami in an interview at TechNewsWorld. They're looking at a non-profit model that would include donations and grant funding.
Comments:
Posted Sun, Apr 12, 1:39 p.m. inappropriate
I wish everyone the best of luck, but honestly I find reading a newspaper or magazine online to be a total pain in the butt. And if Seattlepi.com is already aggregating stuff from other sources, how is this going to be different?
Posted Mon, Apr 13, 10:46 a.m. inappropriate
Donations and grant money alone--can this work? I am guessing they also need subscriptions and advertising as a source of revenue, perhaps even funds from a government tax, similar to what the BBC is supported by. In addition, perhaps they should even host political forums, both for candidates and for issues--they could have a panel of cyber journalists ask questions and host both in-person and streaming video events via the Internet. They should burrow in and become as intrinsic to democracy as possible. Being a nonprofit means they won't be able to endorse candidates, which might be an advantage when it comes to public perceptions. Even so, my feeling is that it will be tough to go with the nonprofit structure, perhaps easier at first, but limiting in the long run. Regardless, I hope they are able to make it work.
Posted Mon, Apr 13, 12:58 p.m. inappropriate
I like it-- National Public Newspaper here we come. I think journalism is the kind of public-service profession that (like health care work) makes more sense done without the distraction (corruption?) of profit-making as it's primary goal.
It would be interesting if this new venture partnered with Real Change to re-claim some paper-based distribution, attract additional donations/grants, and to supply a purposeful cause with high-quality writing that can cross-promote its Web site.
Posted Mon, Apr 13, 2 p.m. inappropriate
It probably would have been wise of them to put some sort of "coming soon" or "under construction" notice on their Web page. Right now it's some weird frame Web page that appears to have nothing to do with what it's going to be tomorrow.