PubliCola Expanding News Coverage

“we believe journalism will raise the standards of the web.”

And that's just what you've done. Thank you all.

Just looking at the Food Nerd's neck makes me hungry, but I suppose that too will go?
Politics is important, but not the most important thing. Just the most commented thing. And most of the anti-TOD, anti-mayor, anti-train, anti-bike, anti-environment comments are coming from the same three people using a hundred different names. They live in my zip code.

Don't let them ruin everything for the rest of Seattle.

i still think you need a proof reader/copy editor.

Other than that – sad to see some of the nerds go (or almost go? i'm not 100% sure), but, then again, i never really read them, so HA!

How does your uncritical repetition of billionaire teacher bashing talking points and teacher union bashing talking points qualify as “journalism” ??

You claim to cover politics, but, your “reporting” on complex educational issues is just stenography of right lies blaming teachers for systemic problems which need to be fixed, but, won't be fixed by the managers who've let the system burn while they've fiddled.

Have you people heard of roger ailes, lee atewater, roger ailes, karl rove, frank luntz, George Orwell's 1984 and doublethink, The Prince …?

I'll defend EVERYONE's right to say and think whatever they want – that is a human right independent of stupid legal pieces of paper, BUT

pretending your slanted educational right wing stenography is afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted is a real disgrace to the ideal of journalism with integrity …

ooops! stupid me … I've stumbled upon the answer!

Robert Murphy
Ballard.

Good luck. Sad you gotta cut back, but sometimes retreating for a bit to your core competencies is the only way to survive. Who knows, maybe if it all works out well, down the road you'll have the money to bring some of the nerds back onboard.

Josh and crew: Thank you for your hard work. You do more than illuminate the issues; you raise the level of political discourse. I'm so grateful for this resource.
Best luck moving forward.

I don't know roger ailes or roger ailes, but teacher's unions suck.
If they were any good, they would have allow the letting go of roger ailes.

What does that have to do with this?
Publicola is the best thing we have, bar none. It's a rough financial world out there. Long live, Publicola.

Raising political discourse is boring as hell. Thank god for comments sections and ivan!

Good move. There are other outlets that cover every single new band and game.

This is a good move. I used to rely on Slog for both news and culture, but would get annoyed at having to wade through tons of culture and “culture” (stupid internet memes) to get to the news. That was also when Erica and Josh were writing for them so there was better news coverage anyway. Now I check Slog occasionally for food/music/arts stuff but check Publicola for my daily local news fix. So thanks for concentrating on news, although the nerds did a great job and will be missed.

The comment section here is the best.
Thank you joshuadf! You give me hope.

You probably mean Josh Feit, who deserves all the credit for making this site happen. It's a big step up from the other options in town. I just wish publicola provided those convenient metal boxes by bus stops so that I have somewhere to set down my drink while I'm checking publicola on my smartphone. I don't know what I'd do without the Seattle Times.

For the record my full name is Joshua Daniel Franklin.

Nope. No mix-up.

But a big thanks to Josh Feit, too.

Well in that case, thank you very much!

No, thank you jdf.
So much of the comment section anywhere is filled with people with angles, or with hate, or ignorance, or BS.
I appreciate reading comments from real human beings. Ones that love life, and love living here in Seattle. We are lucky indead.

Definitely a smart move. I skip past the “culture” stories to get to the news and politics and have many friends who do the same. You've carved out a great niche and I appreciate having you as a resource.

I also agree that you have a comments section that can't be missed. Especially West Seattle Waiter and Mr. Baker.

As usual, I will be the token contrarian (sort of). I also come to read the news posts, and for precisely that reason, I find out about hole-in-the-wall restaurants and other interesting things that I wouldn't have gotten elsewhere. But since this is a problem of allocation of scarce resources, stick with the core competency (news and politics) and don't try to be too much.

And, again, I can only click the “like” button once.

Can you fix that?

So, the logic that brought you to this point, comments etc, should also lead you to fire somebody every Friday and post a story that is part mission statement, and part journalism prolepsis.
Publicola offices will be shut down mid-January.

Josh, Erica, et. al,

You have really created something special. I am an avid reader of the site and a big fan of your investigative reporting. Keep up the good work. You are hands down the best pollical/policy/regional affairs news source in the puget sound region, bar none. I work as a policy analyst for a local government in King County (not Seattle), and am thus very much in tune with the local political scene. However, you provide the coverage that everyone (insiders and outsiders) all covet. The focus on more news/political coverage is not only astute, it is absolutely critical. Do what you do best, and raise the bar for all journalism in Seattle.

Mr. Baker, you will eat your words. Trust me.

Josh and Erica should just get out there and cover the news. Just by filling the vacuum left by the legacy media, which are hardly worth bothering with anymore, they are performing a valuable service.

Whether they are “raising the bar for journalism” is another question altogether. Their embarrassing pimping for the cult of “new urbanism” or other pet agendas, and their fatuous acceptance of right-wing or hipster talking points damages their credibility and renders the quality of their reporting highly suspect.

Once they get over themselves and their insufferable smugness, and recognize that doing so will not make them or their copy dull, Publicola might turn into something a lot better than what it is now. I'm not saying that won't happen, but I'm not ready to bet that it will, either.

Kissel has promise, and the Law Nerd is a very positive addition.

I'm sorry to read that the Arts Nerds are being cut back, their taste didn't always match mine but they were interesting to read.

That said please, please drop or replace the Real Estate Nerd. If I wanted to read the latest press releases from the builders and realtors associations, I'd subscribe to the Seattle Times. Cheerleading for the sale and market revival of suburban tract homes are probably only of interest to one single reader, John Bailo(the most annoying commenter on Seattle area media sites). A “Housing Nerd” that touched on affordability issues and RENTALS, would be more useful.

People go to websites like they go to a particular section of the newspaper. Publicola is the local and editorial section for Seattle. The arts and entertainment side might be more successful with their own website.

I'm glad to see someone pick up the reins for the rapidly disappearing MSM in Seattle and Washington State. Postman, Adam Wilson and Richard Roesler are just a few of the professionals disappearing from the field.

I was joking, so my words will taste like a Skittles.

I was thinking of the old joke:I am trying to lose weight so I am running 10 miles a day. (How is that going?) Great, by the end of year I'll be half way across the county.
They got rid of people to get better, by mid-June they could be great an have zero employees.

I will miss Jonathan Cunningham. I think he had the lowdown and the background on a wide variety of styles bubbling in this town. I'll hope to read him elsewhere.

I'd also dig it if you could put some stories in the hopper before you go to bed each night. Ideally something you could set to post automatically at 6am like an alarm clock.

Basically, I want my Morning Fizzy on the screen by 7am. Could you do that for me please?

Thanks.

I think it is the right move.

I think that having a emphasis on where different legislative groups connect with their executives, and with effected legislative agencies and executives would be useful.

In the end I think there will be specialized blogs like this, they will get good at what they cover, maybe they end up together in a larger organization, and eventually bury the Seattle Times. That is what I think happens wayyyyyy down the road, that's what groups do, they gather for mutual benefit. In this case it is political journalism. Larger entities (ST) trying to grow or maintain that segment in a larger group breeds overhead for control of power, and waste in not so good segments going on because they have been institutionalized, and a lack of depth in those weaker segments.

Good luck.

Thanks for listening to the surveys, Josh. Looking forward to the additional news coverage!

A suggestion I had for Crosscut a few months ago, and something that was done very well here, was the competing opinions published together, panhandling. Sure, the writers were, well, wrote the way they did. But still think the idea is a very good one, and I am glad to see you try that.
It should be a regular thing, once a week to fill the weekend Sunday part, or once a month, don't care, people keep getting the news, in part, because it keeps getting delivered in with regular timing.
I suggest that if you asked people that understood a subject and count argue their side within a limit of 6 or 7 short paragraphs then the reader could get a fairly complete picture of arguments in a total of 12 to 14 paragraphs at the most (the dueling Tims went on way too long).
Competing opinions, every Sunday, consumed before my coffee gets cold.

To a larger point, columnists are a dime a dozen, the blog does one thing really well, it pumps out analisys at a freakish rate, 99.9% is crap, but it is almost all free, and better than what the Times prints on pulp. It has little value to online readers. Reporting news, on the other hand, has a much higher value to the readers and most bloggers and columnists would be dead without it.
What sports beat reporters do in the off season, or the day their sport does not have contests, is that they write their column then. Politics doesn't do that, I know, so I think what Steve Scher does every Friday is a service, your take on the news. Save your opinion on the news, then write a weekly column, my suggestion. The end of the day sum of stories is useful. A sum of big stories of the week with your opinion might also be good.
I have a similar problem as Ivan has (though not to that degree).

Just a few suggestions.
Good luck.

I think this is the right move. Tthat said, I still don't get Bike Nerd. I know that transport news in big right now round here but bike specific news? it just doesn't fill the bill for me. Seems narrowly focused and sorta solipsistic. (BTW, I don't bike. I don't drive. I walk. And I don't think you should have a Walking Nerd)

Chris Kissel, however, is a keeper. As is Angela Garbes. Both of them can write – I'm always entertained….

The mention of Crosscut made me think of the big difference between Publicola and Crosscut. Except for Berger and one or two others, Crosscut presents columnists who are way past their pulldate but neither they nor the editor realize it. Thank god for Publicola.

Yes, please, a more rentally-relevant real estate column, or just be content with the excellent
Bertolet. I don't care if upper-middle-class people are able to buy houses for $50K less than they could two years ago.

Many of the issues that are important to bikers and Bike Nerd are the same issues that are important to pedestrians, transit users, proponents of 'livable communities,' environmentalists, etc…. I don't think I've ridden a bike since I moved back from Germany, but his is one of my favorite sections of the site.

Could “way past their pulldate” be synonymous with “I want my MTV”? After all…Teabaggers want their FoxTV. Women of a certain age want their O (choose prah or xygen) TV. And so on.

I thought it read it within some comments prior to someone writing it minutes ago. And did I also read a comment on Steve Scher of KUOW that suggests that immediacy isn't all that wonderful when it comes to “covering the news?” What a concept!!!!

I sensed it

I guess I'm one of the few who thinks it's a shame that Publicola is dropping the arts & culture & etc nerds. I really love what they bring to the site. They help me feel connected to what's going on in this city, which is more than political drama. It's a big world out there. I find out about (and do) stuff that I wouldn't otherwise. I can't stand the Slog and SW seems like it's trying to become more Stranger-like. I was really enjoying the Publicola alternative. I guess you guys have to do what you have to do to survive, but I think it's too bad if that means becoming a one-trick pony (granted, with a valuable trick).

I think you should be walking nerd, randomly posting extremely narrow and “hyper local” news reports of mismatched walking surfaces, puddles, and cars taking a free right without even looking at you stepping off the curb into the intersection.

I know, I'll eat my words, and they will taste like Sourpatch Kids.

I think the effort to hire and be more newsy has helped them quite a bit.

In either place you make a better columnist for you if presented with useful information presented in a meaningful way, on a regular basis.

The Times was so pleased to corner the market on columnists a few years ago, that is a giant waste of money. Anybody can formulate meaning from facts, data, and information. As the newspapers lament their remediation they latch onto their news reporting as a public service, true. That does not explain the utility of having so many columnists as compared to actual reporters of news.
It is a trap I hope Publicola does not fall into, that Crosscut is climbing out of, and Seattle Times fails to recognize it is in.

Looking forward to the expanded news coverage, but I'm sure I'll be missing the Nerds soon.

hahaha

We feel the same way about the culture coverage, Sparky—that it took our politics coverage out of a vacuum and kept us connected to city life.

We will continue w splashes of that. Anand and Jonathan will still post here when they can, for example.

But the spend on arts simply didn't make sense.

Today my feet are sore because I spent last evening wandering around the very, very big Exhibition Hall at the Seattle Center for the magnificent Erotic Arts Festival (really, it's great, everybody should go). I was not wearing sensible shoes. And no, I was not in death defying stilettos, the bane of the true walkers existence.

See? Walking and culture in one combination. Am I hired?

I think the arts and “culture” dropped here, and spread thinly around, but still done well, will pool into a place like this, and my personal page will get rss feeds from both and I will pick and choose from there, my personal news “paper”.
If sports could be covered like the “entertainment” they really are then an “arts and entertainment” local could take that segemt.

Ezra Kline has a new Wonkbook email aggregator. I think the email newsletter is as fresh as the listserv, but I think that makes sense there, for now. On the local level, not so much (sorry crosscut).

Yes, but I can only pay compliments.

Another very old joke. I don't work in the media, I did study it/this.
Why not you, As your personal media consultant for the moment Josh did request readers to send in Last Night stories. I suggest you add 3 paragraphs to what you have written, and what you saw, and I would read it. Unless Josh was there and is planning a Sunday feature.

double down on the politics! it's why i come back. i found myself frequently using the news and politics tab so i can filter out the culture stuff in the last couple months.

Not sure I understand what you were trying to say in the rest of your comment, Steve, but “way past their pulldate” meant they should have quit writing a few decades ago because their minds appear to be on autopilot. As does yours with your comments on “woman of a certain age.”

“Not sure I understand what you were trying to say' understates it greatly, I'd say. I understood pulldate. Do you understand sarcasm, irony, or even people who don't talk and write in the same style you do?

I do community organizing. Political stuff. What I learned is that, when you say stuff that that people don't understand, many of them instinctively reject it and attack you. Your snark shows precisely where this medium of exchange fails. Or maybe it's just you. You have no idea who or what I am. But I suspect you've got me profiled.

Anybody here get my original comment?

AMEN to your last two comments, MrB.

This is the down side to “have it your way.” When you don't have the time, money, peace of mind to sample everything at the smorgasbord, you concentrate on what you crave…then what you're familiar with…to the extent possible. When you can. Oy!

One thing I've noticed, and this applies to every online news outfit, is the balance between number of stories per hour, and letting one post work itself out.
There are stories that get lots of comments, but then other things come up and that one gets left for dead. Never really gets resolved, because here comes another juicy post. Granted, Publicola is the only site I've seen move older stories up front when the comments get hot again. But it's a trade-off.
Erica posts an amazing number of articles, and we have to move fast. Dan posts a fewer number, but we need to have time to reflect on those.

Other posts need no comment, but are also very much needed and appreciated.
I want them all.

Hey Josh, do you ever read http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/ ?

Check out their “Inside TPM” section. Something like that is pretty common and would be more useful than the “Recent comments” highlighting. Maybe others will disagree… but I love hitting a news site or blog with a nice convenient top-level listing of the last 10-20 articles at a glance. Makes navigation so much easier, especially if it's a site I regularly read.

These are really good ideas.

Way down the road? All they need to do is get readership numbers on par with the Times, and prove it–and then approach the major Seattle Times advertisers and offer them advertising at a lower rate than the Times does. That may be one possible avenue…

If you wanted to take the Times head-on, I mean.

By the way, is there a mobile optimized version of the site (not the iPhone app)?

Yes, Steve, I know who you are. Political organizing doesn't usually go well with sarcasm.

As you expand political coverage, please unite your focus on transit and walkability issues with expanded coverage of the Seattle delegation to the state legislature. Most of the pro transit activist crowd in Seattle (and I mean the citizen type activists not the political junkies and insiders) have no idea who their state rep is, or what they are, or are not doing, vis-a-vis WSDOT, 520, DBT, transit, high speed rail, or urban walkability issues.
Th media frames all these fights as “Olympia” versus McGinn. But where is…..Phyllis Kenney on this? Margarita Prentice? Zack Hudgins or Joe McDermott? The same voters who demand transit solutions from our city officials seem to elect state representatives who by and large are content to do almost nothing to support transit down in Olympia. I can hear it now — that's not WSDOT's job, transit is the function of local govenment…….not the State…..

and that is the problem.

BTW nice article on Marcee Stone, but why not focus on the actual office holders first?

It has nothing to do with age.

sarah68 – I completely agree with your comments about real estate nerd. It would definitely be good to have real estate news beyond what we can already read in Seattle Metropolitan/Seattle Magazine. Some stories about affordable neighborhoods, new low income housing, where seniors live, etc. would be great.

Publicola is great…it combines all my favorite targets into one easy location: High Spending Libs, Density Crazed Democrats, Tax Loving Bureaucrats, Transit Mad Super Planners, and so on. Sadly, you make it too easy…

Funny, I've been here for about three months and always considered it a news site, not a blog. That probably contributes to its success and why the readers want more news from it.

Maybe the Walking Nerd could also teach those that walk that a flashing do not walk sign means do not enter the intersection so that those cars that did look before taking the right turn can actually make it through before that light changes.

“People were afraid the web would lower the standards of jouralism, but we believe journalism will raise the standards of the web.”

Both have happened. Pubs like The Stranger and shows like The Daily Show were just a tongue-in-cheek jab when they debuted over a decade ago, and despite efforts to the contrary they still are very much the same thing. But now the web has cultivated a hive-mind mentality and now, as the media turns to the web, news outlets (like their readers, viewers, etc) seek out confirmations for their biases in lieu of the truth. And now those outlets are considered serious, respected news sources despite little change from their previous M.O.

At the same time, the use of the web as a serious lobbying and news platform has in turn transformed what was just a blind sociocultural palette into a more focused outlet of information.

The Walking Nerd would definitly tackle this provocative issue…

Now that said, I was among the many who said that Publicola's strength was its news coverage and the site would do itself good to focus more on that. I'm glad they actively chose to take that direction.

Please don't lose the Sounders photography!

Tragedy, Alexandra Bush and Sam the Game Nerd were in my opinion two of the best writers on Publicola staff.