Viva La Cola!

Founded in January 2009, PubliCola is a blog about Seattle written by journalists who are dedicated to non-partisan, original daily reporting that prioritizes a balanced approach to news. Started by longtime local editor and award-winning reporter Josh Feit, PubliCola is the first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol.

PubliCola was off and running. In June 2009, PubliCola hired another award-winning journalist, super-sourced Seattle city hall reporter Erica C. Barnett.

People were afraid that blogging would change journalism. Instead, we believe journalism can change blogging. Twenty-first century journalism may look and feel different, and yes Erica isn't afraid to get cranky, but we're committed to making sure online news still delivers independent, reliable, even-keeled coverage. And most of all, we're committed to making sure the coverage sparks honest civic debate.

Bringing you cola for the people, PubliCola is named after Publius Valerius PubliCola, the alias for the authors of the Federalist Papers—the original bloggers.

The first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol and Seattle city hall, PubliCola has been called a “must-read” by the Seattle Post Intelligencer and a hot “New Media Mover and Shaker” by Seattle Magazine—which also cited our own Erica C. Barnett as the city's No. 1 news nerd.

Online PI Still Under Consideration

   

Work on a possible slimmed down, online-only version of the P-I continues to move forward, according to a source at the paper. P-I web staff are developing various templates for how an online P-I would look, and another high-ranking Hearst official is visiting the paper on Wednesday to look over the paper’s online operations. My source cautioned, however, that higher ups at Hearst have still not made a final decision on moving forward with an online-only version of the paper once the P-I ceases print publication in mid-to-late March.

That follows a late January visit by a high-ranking Hearst delegation that conducted a top-to-bottom survey of the P-I’s online efforts. Word out of the newsroom at the time was that members of the Hearst team came away favorably impressed with the paper’s success in drawing readers to its web site.