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.

Bummer News

PubliCola Adds Life   February 1, 2012 at 10:32 am Josh Feit

We’re sad to announce that our star star crime reporter Jonah Spangenthal-Lee is leaving PubliCola.

Jonah is a dynamite beat reporter. In my opinion, he’s the best crime reporter in the city. Here at PubliCola, he broke loads of exciting stories. To name a few: He broke the news about the DOJ’s harsh report on the SPD; he broke the news on Phoenix Jones’ arrest; he got PubliCola linked in the NYT with his Occupy coverage; and he scored us as much traffic as we’ve ever seen from a single post when, during his first week here, he reported about a man who lit his balls on fire.

We hired Jonah just five months ago, and we’re bummed to see his time here come to an end. It is a cost-saving move and while I love his work, we had no other choice. If any media outlet is looking to make a great hire, the best cops reporter, to our chagrin, is now available.


  • ivan

    Why not sack Erica instead?

  • Butch

    I hope he restarts Seattle Crime Blog.  It was much better coverage than what crime he was allowed to report here.

  • Anonymous

    Sad.

  • Anonymous

    The vote was 2-1 for removing Erica, but she was in charge of both counting and reporting the numbers.  And if you’ve ever noticed her ability to transpose, conflate, and mis-characterize numbers and facts…game over.

  • Seattle Shrugster

    Word.

  • gloomy gus

    I’m actually kind of glad about this. He made a good effort, but the blind spots were pretty glaring.

  • Fred

    Well, this is what happens in non-union, scab publishers.

  • Fred

    So. where will we get news that’s not all about white people ie. bicycles, urbanism and Mayor McGinn?

  • Bramble

    “Cost-saving move.” This is just what Mitt did to all of those companies under Bain. So un-American.

  • Levi Pulkkinen

    Best luck with whatever comes next Jonah.

  • UncleJesse

    Don’t leave us with crosscut and slog as our only other insight to non-Seattle Times news. -The Weekly no longer counts.-

    Sell more ads. Eat more ramen.

    Good luck Jonah.

  • Perfect Voter

    Most of his “reporting” was just reading police reports published by SPD. Job that real publications hand to cub reporters. Real crime reporting requires legwork always.

  • Mark B

    He was the reason I started reading publicola, I too hope he starts seattlecrime.com back up.

    Good luck Jonah. We will have to meet up at the squirrel for a beer.

  • Rosie

    This is bummer news, and I followed Jonah here, maybe now my publicola rants and blood pressure will go down as I don’t have to sift through the BS to get to JSLs stories.

  • Nemo

    Stenographers are a dime a dozen. Real Investigative reporters are not. Geting the Scoop is not really the same as “breaking a story.” Being first to pick it up and post it, is not the same as reporting on things that no one else wil touch.

  • Miles

    I hear SPD is looking for a new press release writer. Should be right up your alley.

  • Seattle Crime reader

    Well then it doesn’t seem that anyone else in the City does even half of what he does. Most of what he reports is never mentioned by other local outlets. Give the guy a break. He can’t bust his ass doing something that doesn’t pay a dime. 

  • Keep At It Jonah

    Not happy that he lost a source of income, but Publicola was really keeping him back. 

    And with his interests, he shouldn’t even be limiting himself to just writing about crimes in Seattle. Set up a site covering crime all over the Puget Sound, Washington, or even the whole Pacific NW. Sure there has to be some backers or advertisers willing to fund something like that. And it would easily get more hits than a Publicola would. Who actually reads this site anyways?! If it wasn’t for Jonah, I’d have visited the site once or twice a year.

    And if he starts getting exclusive interviews (like he did at the Stranger) with more than just SPD employees (gang members, etc..), he would easily say those are exclusive news pieces.  

  • Philip Weiss

    Awesome business plan Publicola has if it can’t even keep ONE hire around for longer than 5 months when they pay him.

  • Anonymous

    You could always have clicked the “Crime” link above.

  • gloomy gus

    What a shitty way for me to put it, I realize. I don’t wish unemployment upon anyone, and was writing as if he’d be segueing to a more suitable and good paying gig somewhere I don’t visit as often as Publicola.

  • Mikos

    We’ll all miss Eddie Munster.

  • jimu

    I didn’t follow a lot of the crime reports, but I will miss the sports and Phoenix Jones reporting. I hope this turns out to be an opportunity JSL.

    I hope for the best.

  • Butch

    Rainier Valley Post covers non white people quite well.  

  • Fred

    Only in their crime section.

  • Mark B

    They do not have a crime section per se, but they do cover the southend.

  • Some Dude

    step one: bring in guy who gets you lots of traffic and have his URL point to your own and reap the SEO bump.  step two: let guy go, keep his URL and his traffic;  step three: … step four: profit.

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

    At some point somebody else will remind you that you once worked for Publicola.

    Now the only crime news Publicola will report on is whatever McGinn PR’s their way (it’s in their email now).

  • Rosie

    Oh I triedthat, but the train wreck of topics is just too tantalizing to resist.

  • lincoln

    Crap. We’ll miss you, Jonah. Keep at it!

  • guest

    That is sad.  Cost savings?  Really?  All this is, is one less reason to turn to Publicola. :(  

  • Booooooo

    No more Publicola for me, I’m a SeattleCrime fan who will leave with him.

  • Butch

    Given that they don’t have a crime section you need to read the RVP more.

  • FrequentPoster

     Now that was good! And so true!

  • FrequentPoster

    Hey, folks, does everyone not see what happened? He has been sold into white slavery through an ad on Backpages! I’m telling you, they’re everywhere!

  • Guest

    Sorry to see you go, Jonah. Good luck finding a news agency that doesn’t suck.

  • Jjcascadia

    Hooray! This guy lied sooooo much in his reports, and used his position as a “reporter” to push his own agenda, its NO WONDER he got fired! Good one, PubliCola!

  • J Vanzetti

    that asshole isn’t even a reporter. copy and pasting police reports is not news.

  • Henry Nelson

    Why was this comment removed? What was the comment? I’ve seen Jjcascadia write before and they typically have insightful stuff to say.