It’s not just the old media that is struggling to maintain political coverage, as newcomer PolitickerWA has reportedly shut its doors as part of a company wide purge that saw the closing of 12 of Politicker’s 17 state sites. Bryan Bissell made a good go at it here in WA, and it’s too bad to see the experiment fail.
The future of journalism is online, but you still need deep pockets or not-for-profit support to survive for the moment until the revenue model catches up with the business reality. Speaking of which… I’m looking for some angels to help me continue and expand my political and news coverage here on HA, so if you’re interesting in getting in on the ground floor of an innovative and exciting local media venture, drop me an email.
dump Feit
no news nose
It’ll be missed. Except I kind of did that asshole thing where the first few times I met Bissell, I didn’t remember where I’d met him before so he had to introduce himself to me like 4 times.
Rotundo Circus Seizes Up
” … The Department of General Administration, which oversees the Capitol grounds, declared a moratorium Friday on … requests to put up displays in the Capitol building. …
“The furor over the displays began early this month when an atheist group … put up an anti-religion placard. Several pro-religion displays followed. This week, the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church applied for permission to put up a ‘Santa Claus Will Take You to Hell’ sign ….
“The moratorium applies to Westboro’s application, along with pending requests for a Buddhist display, a Jewish banner, … an aluminum pole in celebration of … Festivus, and a ‘Flying Spaghetti Monster Holiday Display.’ A menorah is still scheduled to go up Dec. 21, since that application had already been approved.”
(Quoted from Seattle Times under fair use.)
Roger Rabbit Commentary: This was predictable. The menorah will go up, the anti-Santa Claus sign won’t. Let the lawsuits fly! You know how those will turn out, too — if you let someone put up a nativity, then you’ve gotta let those who worship the Flying Spaghetti Monster have their display, too! Because that’s how the First Amendment works. Of course, I knew this would be more than the General Administration bureaucrats could cope with, and the whole display thing would seize up immediately, like an engine that lost its oil. Memo to O’Reilly: General Administration, not the Governor, decides who gets to display what in the Olympia Rotunda! Next time, make a phone call to find that out before shooting from the lip, dumbass!
This is too bad…
I was at the annual conference of Capitol Beat, the organization of state capitol reporters, in Raleigh, N.C. a month ago, and Politicker folks were all over the place promoting their site and business model.
Someone will, however, jump in to take their place – someone always does.
Welcome to capitalism.
The Piper
Goldy,
Really? Time recognized this in 2007.
Recently one Time person inferred Time on the web is now bigger.
@3
Yes I was predicting the GSA would end up saying “no more”. Wanna bet next year they don’t have anything more than some generic “winter holiday” decorations in the Capitol Rotunda?
Though my hat really goes off to the people behind the application for the Festivus pole and the Flying Spaghetti Monster display.
@Goldy
The “public radio” model is probably most appropriate until the advertising revenue is there to fully support the site, particularly when focused on regional issues like this one.
Picking apart what The Huffington Post or Daily Kos are doing can give some useful direction on writing the business plan.
Though as many have pointed out the most important thing to drive traffic is quality writing.
Too bad. This was a helpful site for political junkies. It’ll be missed.
Angels? They’re out there.
HA is a hoot, I visit often and would love to help you promote it.
Sincerely