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.

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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.

Turner News

News   October 1, 2009 at 4:46 pm Josh Feit

Another bombshell in Olympia. Veteran TNT reporter Joe Turner (best Oly blog bar none) announced he’s leaving.

Part of the reason, maybe even the reason, we founded PubliCola last January was to cover Olympia in the fallout from the dwindling press corps.

At the time: Veteran Seattle Times Olympia reporters David Postman and Ralph Thomas had announced they were out the door; the PI, about to close its print edition, lost its Oly reporter, Chris McGann; and veteran AP Olympia reporter Dave Ammons also left. (He’s clearly missing it.)

We dove in, scooped some stories—that the legislature was poised to repeal I-937 (the renewable energy initiative), named the Seattle legislators who voted to saddle Seattle with any tunnel cost overruns—and were the first online publication in state history to get press credentials to cover the state legislature.

In the months after the session, more veteran reporters left: The Spokesman Review’s Rich Roesler (my favorite of the crew) and The Olympian’s Adam Wilson.

Turner takes a swipe at blogs in his farewell announcement:

Blogs won’t replace newspapers. They are like newspapers before the Civil War, where each of them espoused a particular viewpoint and finding neutral reporting was difficult if not impossible.

I do hope Joe is including the Independent Journal in that assessment, the New York paper that ran 80 some screeds by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay (totally the first bloggers) that became known as the Federalist Papers and helped sway the states in the confederation to adopt the Constitution.

Their anonymous handle? Publius—a reference to Roman Republican, Publius Valerius Publicola! (Even though PubliCola strives for less partisanship than most blogs, that’s where our name comes from.)

In all seriousness, I didn’t know Joe well. I only got acquainted with him last session. He was always helpful, but was clearly a competitor—teasing and cajoling you when he knew he had a scoop coming.

And he had plenty.


  • http://manywordsforrain.blogspot.com/ Mr.Baker

    I thought this was pretty good:

    One of my former bosses said to me, “Joe, you’re the most cheerful malcontent I’ve ever met.”

    I loved that description. But that was 20 years ago, and I have since lost much of my cheer. I’m going to look for it.

    a career reporter hangs it up and you turn it into omphaloskepsis, geez.

    Keep it classy, Publicola.

  • http://manywordsforrain.blogspot.com/ Mr.Baker

    I thought this was pretty good:

    One of my former bosses said to me, “Joe, you’re the most cheerful malcontent I’ve ever met.”

    I loved that description. But that was 20 years ago, and I have since lost much of my cheer. I’m going to look for it.

    a career reporter hangs it up and you turn it into omphaloskepsis, geez.

    Keep it classy, Publicola.

  • http://publicola.net/ Josh Feit

    @1,

    Had to look that one up Mr. Baker.

    Yeah, I was a little wary of that, but it’s hard not to get self reflective when stuff is collapsing all around you.

    And also, Joe took a little parting shot, no?

    And that says it all: Joe’s a total curmudge (wonderfully so) … cynical and bitchy. So, I erred on the side of scrapping back a little.

  • http://publicola.net/ Josh Feit

    @1,

    Had to look that one up Mr. Baker.

    Yeah, I was a little wary of that, but it’s hard not to get self reflective when stuff is collapsing all around you.

    And also, Joe took a little parting shot, no?

    And that says it all: Joe’s a total curmudge (wonderfully so) … cynical and bitchy. So, I erred on the side of scrapping back a little.

  • Mikos

    Turner’s blogging last winter was inestimable. He seemed to be everywhere at all times. @1 good point.

  • Mikos

    Turner’s blogging last winter was inestimable. He seemed to be everywhere at all times. @1 good point.

  • brutus

    Yes, and if you realize that after a nightly bachanalia every morning Publius Valerius Publicola drank pepsi cola to get rid of his hangover, then your graphic colors and soda can photo and memes make total sense!

  • brutus

    Yes, and if you realize that after a nightly bachanalia every morning Publius Valerius Publicola drank pepsi cola to get rid of his hangover, then your graphic colors and soda can photo and memes make total sense!

  • Sandeep

    It’s funny, because blogging seemed to give Turner a huge second wind. Joe is a character, an old school ink stained wretch who actually took to blogging like a duck to water.

    When he started blogging about politics on the TNT site it really raised his profile — and his influence. I remember all of a sudden I started hearing a lot of buzz last year among Seattle politicos about how the TNT political blog was a must read if you wanted to stay on top of what was happening in Oly. And the buzz was well deserved — his prolific blog posts were not only informative, but also entertaining to read because the looser, more personal style gave readers a sense of his cheerfully malcontented personality.

    It’s too bad that we are losing his voice, but, thanks in large part to his success with the blog form, at least Joe’s leaving while at the top of his game.

  • Sandeep

    It’s funny, because blogging seemed to give Turner a huge second wind. Joe is a character, an old school ink stained wretch who actually took to blogging like a duck to water.

    When he started blogging about politics on the TNT site it really raised his profile — and his influence. I remember all of a sudden I started hearing a lot of buzz last year among Seattle politicos about how the TNT political blog was a must read if you wanted to stay on top of what was happening in Oly. And the buzz was well deserved — his prolific blog posts were not only informative, but also entertaining to read because the looser, more personal style gave readers a sense of his cheerfully malcontented personality.

    It’s too bad that we are losing his voice, but, thanks in large part to his success with the blog form, at least Joe’s leaving while at the top of his game.

  • http://joshuadf.blogspot.com/ joshuadf

    Blogs won’t replace newspapers

    Here’s a talk “Post Mortem For A Dead Newspaper” on the subject from former Rocky Mountain News editor John Temple:
    http://techdirt.com/articles/20091001/1900266400.shtml

  • http://joshuadf.blogspot.com joshuadf

    Blogs won’t replace newspapers

    Here’s a talk “Post Mortem For A Dead Newspaper” on the subject from former Rocky Mountain News editor John Temple:
    http://techdirt.com/articles/20091001/1900266400.shtml

  • Jason Osgood

    publicola should have a donate button, so we can support journalism directly.

  • Jason Osgood

    publicola should have a donate button, so we can support journalism directly.