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.

Last Night: “Thanks For Being A Cool Crowd”

Arts & Culture   March 14, 2010 at 11:10 am Sam Machkovech

Last night, after moderating a music conference panel about online journalism, I hiked across the college town of Denton, TX, along with a few thousand others, to see a free Flaming Lips concert. Both events were part of the North By 35 Music Conferette, a hundreds-of-bands weekend put on by Sub Pop Records artist Chris Flemmons. In case you’re wondering, yes, a small Texas town can host a psychedelic freakout like the Lips’–complete with a massive screen that displayed a naked woman spreading her legs to “give birth” to the band as they came on stage–to a polite, adoring crowd of thousands without incident. “Thanks for being such a cool crowd,” Lips lead singer Wayne Coyne repeatedly said between songs, and certainly, the buzz-cut slew of Texan security and cops on hand had to agree (or, at least, had to dig how well the band’s latest album, Embryonic, translates to a dance-friendly live experience).

Photos after the jump.