Over at News Junkie, Sandeep’s hearing rumors of yet another round of layoffs at the Seattle Times, and when asked for comment, Times spokesperson Jill Mackie gave this non-denial denial:
“We have no announcements to make at this time regarding further layoffs,” Mackie wrote back. “Generally speaking, we try not to comment on rumors, and, out of respect to our employees, were we to have an announcement to make, we would certainly want to discuss it first with employees before commenting in the media.”
Huh. I guess that makes Sandeep “media.” Welcome back, Sandeep.
Meanwhile at Publicola, Josh talks to Seattle P-I managing editor David McCumber, who fears that Seattle could be on its way to being a no-newspaper town.
I pointed out the “media” reference in the original post, but the link on the JOA seemed to have problems.
My guess is about a quarter-century after the final collapse of the Seattle Times, they will decide to elevate Sandeep to the status of “journalist”.
Actually, I find it refreshing that we actually have a place where we can get news about Seattle media, whether it be print or broadcast. Heaven knows, you won’t hear much from the sources themselves, except for exactly what you want to hear. Broadcasters and print journalists come and go with barely a comment that they have “left to pursue other endeavors”. Likewise, cutbacks in resources and coverage are often passed off like the typical corporate news release: as a “reogranization” to “to provide you with even better service in the future”.
And pretty soon, the Times will be printed overseas as well, with nothing but wire reports, since they’ll figure that will save them some money, especially if they can do it a few days in advance out in Bangladesh…..
Bye Bye ST, soon I hope
Unless you are into Sports the only impact of a dead Times would be the need for someplace else to go for the food adds. I have no idea why anyone cares about their editorials and reporting of anything but sports is superficial at best.
On the plus side, if both fish wrappers were to poof, the market for real news might expand enough to create some jobs ,,, Goldy style or an expanded Less Stranger?
They any question is NOT thew suffering of folks laid off from the Times. The Seattle Buggy Works is not viable either. The key question is whether new model can employ good reporters to actually gather news ..something the ST and PI have not done much of for a long time.
I like Goldy’s idea if he can approach it in a catholic fashion and link to a good selection of sources! I also like the idea of building from the Crosscut or Stranger bases into something more able to address the community need.
One obvious question is how the JOA clique will handle sources like the Puget Sound Business Journal and the local weeklies. A consolidator, sort of a HuffPost/NW might be a really viable alternative is a profit model can be found.
I must say, however, that I worry that the bits and hits Google model may not produce the steady cash flow needed to support Goldy’effort. One alternative might be a coalition of existing publications that do not have a real web presence but BETWEEN them might provide a critical mass of writers. Could Goldy weave a tapestry out of the Medium, The Capital Hill Times, the UW Daily, the Puget Sound Business Journal???
When newspapers try to get me to buy subscriptions now, they don’t peddle their news content. They say I should buy it for advertisements!!!!!
Why in the world should I pay for someone to deliver advertisements to me??????
Shit. What’ll I use to light my kindling?
And bird cages throughout the region will have to find other linings.
Today’s Non-Sequitur cartoon is relevant:
Non-Sequitur 27Jan09