I generally think it makes sense for Joni Balter to move to news. But the highlighted bit is strange.
In an email, Balter told PubliCola that her new title will be assistant political editor. “I have long wanted to try some editing,” Balter says. “I am taking the lead on the Politics Northwest blog, trying to give it a bigger presence on the site and make it a must read.”
More political reporting on the Politics Northwest blog sounds good. The best model would be Postman, but The Tacoma News Tribune’s political blog is pretty good, and has had more longevity than Postman. I hope she can pull it off, and as I’ve said, all in all, Balter moving to news is probably the right move for the paper, and hopefully for her.
Still, does Joni Balter not realize she has access to a blog now? She could have made some effort to make the Ed Cetera blog a must read. I’m sure the paper would have loved her to break some stories on that blog, instead of doing nothing with it for a while, and then giving it to an intern. And it seems that a breaking news blog would be more work than an opinion blog. Maybe it’s more different than I realize, but if the past is prologue, it’s not a good sign.
Local political blogging is great, but there are so many national issues at stake, as well. In the meantime, there is this story:
Cumulus Radio, which carries only a small portion of Rush Limbaugh’s radio shows, reports it lost 2 million in revenue 4th Qtr 2011, and another 2 million in revenue 1st Qtr 2012 – all do to sponsors abandoning Limbaugh for his ugly comments.