One year ago, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer published its last print edition and became an online-only publication. As news organizations experiment with new business models, Hearst’s experience in Seattle may offer lessons.

In a piece last year about the change, SeattlePI.com Executive Producer Michelle Nicolosi asked, “Is it possible to run an online-only local news site that serves a city’s readers well while turning a profit?”

Linda Thomas of KIRO-FM spoke with Hearst Seattle Media General Manager Pat Balles and reported that the site is not yet profitable:

“[Balles] says they’re on track to make a profit, though he won’t say when. Hearst Corporation is a privately-held company, and [Balles] says stock holders will be the first to know when they’ve turned the corner. At the least, he says, they are not bleeding $1 million a month they lost with the print operation. It’s estimated that in 2008 Hearst lost $14 million in Seattle.

” ‘I like to think of it as it’s an ATM that maybe the parent company was making deposits into. Eventually they’d like to get a withdrawal out of this ATM, this investment, and I think it’s totally viable to do that,’ Balles says.”

For Full Story

By Media Matters For America

The latest non-profit news outlet aimed at investigative reporting may well be FairWarning.org.

The brainchild of former Los Angeles Times reporters Myron Levin and Joanna Lin, the outfit plans to investigate issues involving safety, health and corporate conduct.

“The hope is to provide stories of vital public interest that are overlooked or under-reported in most media,” says Levin, 61, who spent 23 years at the Times before taking a buyout in 2008. “We want to do what little we can to help fill the gap in robust, deeply reported stories that is left by the contraction of media.”

Levin, who says the project has some $250,000 in donations for at least its first year, will be in the model of ProPublica or other recently created non-profit news outlets. Major donors include the Ethics and Excellence Journalism Foundation and the Charles Evans Foundation.

With three part-time students from U.C.-Berkeley and U.S.C. and a small office in Sherman Oaks, Calif., the organizers hope to formally launch in about two weeks.

The Web site is already up at www.fairwarning.org.

Here are the results of the Guild Elections

• Co-Chair News: Freddie Kunkle

• Co-Chair Commercial: Darlene Meyer

• Vice Chair News: Renae Merle

• Vice Chair Commercial: Mike Gronowski

• Vice Chair News Night: Open

• Vice Chair Commercial Night: Amy Quinto

• Vice Chair News Digital: Whitney Shefte

• Vice Chair Commercial Digital: Renada Jackson

• Secretary: Del Wilber

• Grievance Chair: Stephen Richardson

To Nominate Post Guild

Officers

Wednesday, February 24

*12 Noon

*1 PM

*9 PM

At the Guild office, 1100 15th St. NW

^{Suite 350}

^{Nominations will be taken for the following positions:}

^{Co-Chair News Co-Chair Commercial}

^{Vice Chair News Vice Chair Commercial}

^{Vice Chair News Night Vice Chair Commercial Night}

^{Vice Chair News Digital Vice Chair Commercial Digital}

^Secretary

^{Grievance Chair}

^{Guild-covered former WPNI, now Washington Post employees are encouraged to attend. If you haven’t already joined the Guild, you may do so at the door.}

^{WASHINGTON-BALTIMORE NEWSPAPER GUILD}

^{1100 15th  Street NW, Suite 350 (202) 785-3650)}

^{POSTGUILD.ORG}

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Journalism isn’t a science, but it’s the setting for a grand experiment. The hypothesis: that you can dismantle the venerable institutions of journalism while preserving the accountability and integrity they represent.

Well, that hypothesis hasn’t been faring so well lately. In the past couple weeks, three online news organizations have illustrated different but related dangers of practicing high-impact journalism without the safeguards of a traditional newsroom.

Over the weekend, the Business Insider reported that New York Gov. David Paterson was hours away from resigning in response to a bombshell story that The New York Times was about to publish. But the story has yet to appear, and Paterson remains very much in office.

This week, an established investigative reporter for The Daily Beast, Gerald Posner, was suspended and then resigned after multiple instances in which he had plagiarized his reporting had come to light.

Read more

The announcement was issued Friday (Jan. 29) by the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Joe Stephens/facebook

The winner of the $25,000 prize will be announced at an awards ceremony on March 23 at Harvard Kennedy School.  The other five finalist will receive $10,000.

The announcement noted:

“Reporters from The Washington Post uncovered repeated lapses in safety in Washington’s Metro subway system and a systemic breakdown in safety oversight. As a result of the Post series, the Metro has instituted sweeping reorganization; there has been a congressional demand for reform, and in a historic step, the federal government announced it would move to take over regulation of subways and light rail systems across the nation.”

It’s been a fun week for watchers of the Washington Post. First comes Gabriel Sherman’s story titled “Post Apocalypse” in The New Republic, a wonderful read powered by some of the best quotes I’ve ever seen in a story about that paper.

Eric Wemple/facebook

Having read these stories for 40 years, I found Gabriel Sherman’s piece (”Post Apocalypse,” February 4) particularly lazy. Not much new here. His endless lead rehashes an episode now seven months old in which a screamingly obvious decision to enter the conference business was betrayed by poor execution. Respected news organizations sponsor dozens of conferences.

Graham had very compelling reasons for writing that letter, newsroom morale being first on the list. The whole “salons” disaster had a big impact on the operation, as did a monthslong renovation that left the newsroom scattered about the region. If The New Republic was going to deliver a broadside at the Washington Post, Don Graham was going to have something to say about it!

To read more click here.

Times change in the newspaper business; technologies and perceptions come and go. There is so little one can rely on.

Don Graham

But there is this: Every few years, a writer for The New Republic or some similar magazine comes forward to announce the collapse of standards and journalism at The Washington Post.

Having read these stories for 40 years, I found Gabriel Sherman’s piece (”Post Apocalypse,” February 4) particularly lazy. Not much new here. His endless lead rehashes an episode now seven months old in which a screamingly obvious decision to enter the conference business was betrayed by poor execution. Respected news organizations sponsor dozens of conferences.

Your reporter tries to build this into a mountain. Having lived through the Janet Cooke episode in my second year as publisher, I do not see in this months-old issue even a respectable-sized molehill.

Mr. Sherman goes on: We have lost a respected reporter–a year ago! (but still have a newsroom full of great ones). Someone has told an insulting story about the editor (consult your files and those of your competitors for similar stories about Ben Bradlee and Len Downie–and for that matter, about Katharine Graham).

To Read More Click Here

To Read original article click here.

“History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

stanford.edu photo

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

These awards honor the best work of rank-and-file workers covered by a Guild contract. The work must have been published or publicly used in 2009, and any employee of one of our bargaining units is eligible to enter, as are at-large members. Also eligible are those who were Guild members last year but have since left their positions via buyouts, resignations, promotions, etc.

We also have Guild Service awards, honoring outstanding dedication to the workers and causes that the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild stands for.

The Front Page Awards honor the best work done by members in our bargaining units for their employers. All entries are free, and as many as three works may be entered in a single category. Two copies of each entry must be submitted to the judges and while published clippings are preferred, electronic versions, such as PDFs, are permitted.

Judges have the right to move entries into different categories, and also have the discretion to not confer an award in every category.

The Front Page Awards are open to all WBNG members, including those who do not work under a Guild-negotiated agreement. Guild members who win in their respective categories are eligible for the Grand Prizes in writing, photography and design.

If you were bought out, laid off, promoted to an exempt spot, or even dismissed during calendar 2008, you may still be eligible to enter as long as your submitted work was performed while you were under the Guild contract. If you’re still in touch with one-time Guild colleagues in this situation, let them know that they, too, can be winners.

But in order to win, you’ve got to enter. If you are entering material for consideration in other awards forums, such as the Pulitzers, you really should also enter it in the Front Page Awards.

All entries must be received no later than the close of business on Monday, Feb. 1. You can deliver them in person, or mail them, to: Front Page Awards, Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, 1100 15th St. NW, Suite 350, Washington, DC 20005. The handy, printable entry form should be attached to each entry. Please specify the category in which your entry is being submitted. You can also email a PDF of your work and the entry form to  nbanks@wbng.org. If you have any problems, please call the Guild at 202 785-3650 and ask for Nancy Banks. There’s been so much good work out there, we want to make sure it gets the recognition it deserves.

The Awards

Writing: Morton Mintz Award for Investigative Reporting; Bernie Harrison Memorial Award for Commentary; Frank C. Porter Memorial Award for Labor and Business Reporting; Criticism; Feature Writing; Headline Writing; International News Reporting; Local News Reporting; National News Reporting; Non-Daily Specialized Technical Reporting; Public Service Reporting; Sports Reporting; (Labor) Unit Publication.

Photography: Feature Photography; Local News Photography; National News Photography; Picture Story; Portrait Photography; Sports Photography.

Art: Advertising Design; Editorial Cartooning; Illustration Design; Labor Promotional Campaign; Marketing and Promotion Design; News Graphics Design; Web-Site Design.

(A separate non-editorial Front Page Award is given for Customer Service Professional of the Year.)

Individual Grand Prize winners will be selected from among the winners of the individual Front Page Award categories. You do not have to submit separate entries for the: Bill Pryor Memorial Grand Prize for Writing; Bill Pryor Memorial Grand Prize for Photography; John Albano Memorial Grand Prize for Art.

If you have questions, contact Front Page Awards Committee Chair Mark Gruenberg (202-898-4825 or press_associates@yahoo.com).