Obviously I don’t mean six months straight. Small daily news reporters must juggle many stories. I had to carve out chunks of time here and there, or ask (or beg) an editor for a reprieve on my required Monday Education Focus story.

I was very happy with the result. Usually the night before a big story like this one runs, I  toss and turn and wake up in the middle of the night, afraid of errors in the copy. But this time, I went through line by line and questioned how I knew each fact. Confident that I could back up all of the facts with either an audio recording, notes or paper records, I slept easily. My editor also was kind enough to e-mail a final version to me at home so I could read it before it ran.

Needless to say, the following School Board meeting was awkward.

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.

The story I wrote about the upcoming Anacortes School Bond stands at about 67 inches. Initially the story was in the 90+ inch category, but my two editors brought it within reason. And while the story is not filled with emotion and drama as the other two are, the story serves one of the most important roles of a journalist: the government watchdog.

The theory goes that since normal people can’t afford, or don’t have time, to look at issues in-depth, it is the reporter’s duty to do so on the citizens’ behalf. It’s our job to ask the tough questions and to get answers.