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 had to resist posting on this blog as soon as our story about the Burlington-Edison School District’s property problem ran in the paper. Entitled “Good Purposes Collide,” the story was the result of six months of investigation into the how and why of a property purchase two years ago.