Thank you, Mich

... for sending me this awesome post from the Slog, the Stranger's blog.

Mich knows me.

Saving the enemy

Well, OK, the Seattle Times isn't exactly my enemy, only the main competitor of my last paper, the P-I. And I'm not exactly saving it. But I did agree -- not foolishly, I hope -- to take part in an online discussion at Crosscut on the topic "How to turn around the Seattle Times."

Chuck Taylor, my friend and the editor of Crosscut, asked a large group of former Times reporters and editors to join him in the virtual roundtable following the news this week that the paper is cutting 200 jobs, including 30 layoffs in the newsroom.

Chuck began by laying out a somewhat radical view of what the Times should do, including giving away the paper for free at newsstands and raising the home subscription price "until it's cheaper for people to buy and own an iPhone." Then my old colleague Peter Lewis chimed in with a few ideas, and last night I added some thoughts too. So far, with the exception of a meager comment thread from readers, that's the extent of the discussion. You can read it here if you're interested.

I had some trepidation about offering what could be construed as advice to the Times, having last worked at the P-I and holding out some hope of returning there. (Not that the Times would listen anyway or, for that matter, that I came up with anything particularly novel.) Anyway, I hope my former bosses aren't offended.

Meanwhile, in clicking around this morning I ran across this funny cartoon by Rob Tornoe at a new site called PolitickerWA.com.


PolitickerWA, about a month old now, is part of a growing national network of "Politicker" sites. In fact, I read just yesterday about PolitickerCA at LAObserved, one of my favorite sites, and looked to see if there was a WA version. Sure enough. Its managing editor is James Pindell, whose bio lists political reporting, editing and blogging gigs at several web sites and papers including the Boston Globe.

So far the content is a bit thin but it looks promising. The more sources for this kind of information the better, and I wish this enterprise well.

(Cartoon used by permission)

News news, good and bad

Strange day in the news biz yesterday. On what's normally a day of journalistic celebration, announcement of the year's Pulitzer Prizes, the Los Angeles Times formally retracted it's horribly flawed Tupac Shakur story of last month.

As was alleged earlier and then confirmed by the Times' own investigation of its own investigation, the paper was duped by some phony documents -- provided by a known con man, in prison no less. It's a terrible black eye for the paper I love, and I feel bad for the new editor Russ Stanton, a guy I know and like and who I hate to see having such trouble so soon after taking over.

Locally, the Seattle Times announced yesterday that previous budget cuts, a hiring freeze and even property sales wouldn't be enough: The paper is whacking about 200 jobs, including layoffs to come in the newsroom. It had to be a tough day over there at Fairview and John yesterday, and I can't imagine the mood was much better for my friends at the P-I. Is this a preview of what's to come there too?

The coolest Pulitzer announced yesterday was an honorary prize awarded to my hero, Bob Dylan, for his ''profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.''

Curiously, I didn't see much news coverage singling out Dylan's award. I did like this quote, in an AP story, by David Lang, the classical composer who won the Pulitzer for music. ''Bob Dylan is the most frequently played artist in my household so the idea that I am honored at the same time as Bob Dylan, that is humbling,'' Lang told the AP.

And, coincidentally it seems, the LAT has this nice piece today about a new compilation CD of music drawn from Dylan's XM radio program.

As if there's not enough to worry about

Just when you thought it was safe to raise your head and look around at the sorry state of the devastation -- global warming, identity theft, online sex predators, tailspinning global stock markets, bickering presidential candidates, tone-deaf "American Idol" contestants -- here comes another big problem:

"Our dirt is disappearing," screams the Seattle P-I headline this morning.

Seems, according to the story, that the Earth's thin layer of topsoil is slowly eroding due to ... farming, really? ... and nobody's doing anything about it. Well, except for the P-I, that is, and some guy who wrote a book.

It's "another global crisis quietly taking place under our feet," the reporter tells us.

Barf. I'm so sick of these alarmist reports masquerading as journalism. They might be even worse than the poor-Gloria hearts and flowers pieces that I hate so much.

We wonder why the news business is in trouble. Wake me up when the last paper folds.

I don't know where we're headed with the topsoil crisis -- I had to stop reading after four paragraphs -- but I know that you could solve the problem, no matter how much dirt we're missing, by tilling all this wasted newsprint into the ground and letting it mulch.

Election day

It's election day here in Seattle -- local city and county council races, school board, some money measures -- and so according to longstanding tradition I got together with my friend Simon.

Jim Simon and I were reporting (and later editing) partners for years at the Seattle Times, first in the state capital bureau and then in the main office, and we must have worked a couple dozen elections together. Since you start work late on election night, we always got together in the late afternoon and caught a movie or something to eat before work (it wasn't as romantic as it sounds).

These days Jim is metro editor -- or maybe an assistant managing editor now, I'm not sure of his title -- and although he still works on election night he doesn't have the time he used to. So today we just got together for coffee. It was good to see him; he's one of the all-time great guys, and we've been friends for 20 years. I was at his daughter Masayo's second birthday party; now she's a sophomore at University of Oregon.

No big headlines, just chit-chat. But it got me thinking about this season's election coverage in the local papers. With the exception of a stray story or two, it hasn't been so good, I've thought. Today I clicked around several local news sites looking at election guides and again I wasn't very impressed. What I found, mostly, were lists of previous stories, not organized, comprehensive, informative guides to the issues and races on the ballot.

This doesn't seem to me like it should be that hard to do. It makes me want to play around with creating a site to organize local political coverage. Maybe I'll do that in my spare time.

Thing No. 5: the Sunday news meeting

Glancing at the P-I's web site this morning, my eye is caught by a front-page promo: "5 things to do Sunday."

Well, OK, but that strikes me kinda funny. For the past year or so one of the paper's regular features has been "Going Out/Staying In," daily recommendations for things to do at home or around town. The promos for that always crack me up because they're way too much -- "117 things to do on Tuesday night!" Now, with a whole weekend day ahead, we're offered just five things. Must be pretty good.

So I click. Setting aside the lameness of the recommendations (Kid's Karaoke, 4 p.m., Skylark Cafe), it's immediately apparent that there aren't five things to do, only four! The fifth thing, maybe, is supposed to be shake your head in wonder.

Elsewhere, looking around the Internet, it's easier to find a few examples of "WW," what worked.

Coming back on the Southern California fires, the New York Times has the kind of piece I appreciate as a reader and loved to attempt as a reporter and editor: a wonky (but not boring) policy takeout on what's behind the big news event, produced while the event is still unfolding. Not easy to do well.

(New York Times photo)

Today's piece, "Rethinking fire policy in the tinderbox zone," digs a bit deeper into the obviously dangerous factors that stoked the fires: rapid growth in the areas "where open spaces and housing meet." Combine that with an official policy to suppress small natural fires, rather than letting the potential big-fire fuel burn itself out before it gets too dangerous, and you're practically asking for trouble.

I love this quote from a guy who owns a bar in an area that has burned twice in four years, just for its California-ness in attitude and language: "If you're going to live in paradise you're going to have to deal."

It's a smart story, well executed.

One of the best things about this baseball postseason for me has been discovering Will Leitch's terrific NYT blog, Fair and Foul. With the Red Sox now up 3 games to 0, Leitch crafted an excellent post this morning on the bummer that is the sweep. And, paging down, he also ruminates on the likability (or not) of Curt Schilling, the aging Sox pitcher whom I cheered the other day (and Janice booed).

In Neil Young news -- an M&M staple this week -- NYT critic Jon Pareles offers a combo feature/album review that finds a metaphor in an old car Young is restoring, explains a bit about his thinking on the concert tour that disappointed Michelle and me (he really hand-picked the horrible WaMu Theatre?), and gives some interesting background on the current album, "Chrome Dreams II."

Locally, not a lot in the Sunday paper that's worth discussing, although Postman has a good blog item about legal considerations in Dino Rossi's gubernatorial campaign announcement.

For some reason the Seattle Times includes a Fall 2007 College Guide in this morning's paper. I haven't looked at it yet, but the timing seems weird to me, as school just started. Also, not to be too dismissive, but when it's time to research colleges I might want to look beyond the hometown newspaper.

To me, the college guide is a prime example of the kind of commodified content that, in our media-saturated world, local papers can save money by doing without. Locally produced film reviews are another key example. Everything's at the multiplex, it's the same everywhere, and excellent movie critics abound. Save some money, small-town managing editors, and use it to hire another good reporter or editor. That's exactly what happened at the Jacksonville (Fla.) Times-Union, where film critic Matt Soegel was told his services were no longer needed. About time, I say. He writes a boo-hoo farewell column, but as he points out himself, he's lucky: At least he'll get to keep a reporting job at the paper.

Not so for Blair Parker, erstwhile sports reporter at The News Leader in Stauton, Va. As the paper's editor David Fritz explains in an apologetic column, he fired Parker for plagiarizing a bunch of stories and totally making up others. Wow.

One thing: I'll bet she could have come up with five things to do on a Sunday.

Maybe smoke was in everyone's eyes

Turning first to the entertainment coverage on a morning when I find a lot in the papers that could be better:

I saw the Seattle Times' venerable rock critic Patrick McDonald at last night's Neil Young concert, hunched at intermission over a laptop with a Verizon wireless card. Good for Patrick, I thought. Next-day coverage, maybe even same-night coverage of a live event! I almost stopped and said hey, but he looked like he was on deadline and I didn't want to interrupt. I needn't have worried, apparently.

No sign of the concert in either local paper or on their web sites this morning. Deep in the Times' site, on the Entertainment page, a purple-shaded box with the photos of two editors offered their "Get Out" recommendation: Neil Young. But when I clicked I got some kind of this-file-is-empty error message. Lame. The recommendation has since been changed to "Spamalot."

I don't get how the papers could punt this. Even if I found the concert a bit disappointing it's a big deal, with a lot of expensive tickets sold, three generations of fans, a brand-new CD being pitched and almost an entire tour left to come. It's news. Sporting events are covered live every day of the year. Come on, man, even M&M was able to post a review by midnight last night.

Update: As of midday the Times has posted McDonald's review -- "a great, unforgettable, powerful show ..." -- and the P-I has posted a nice photo gallery, but still no review.

Moving on: The big news all over the Internet again today is the still-raging SoCal fires. The cool LA Times Google fire maps, first pointed out around these parts by Kaye's great NiteNote blog, have spread like, well, you know. The Seattle Times and P-I have been linking to the LAT map off their front pages, and now I notice the New York Times has gotten into the act with its own, staff-produced, non-Google multimedia map. Pretty good, but no better than the much quicker and totally intuitive Google version.

Although Long Beach hasn't been hit directly by the fires -- Kaye's been keeping us updated -- the LA Times has a good piece today about how topography funnels the smoke right into our old hometown.

The P-I "localizes" the fires with a front-page feature about some evacuating Californians who ended up here in Seattle. It's funny, when people first started leaving their homes down there I thought of the running gag in this year's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" show on HBO, in which a black Katrina-victim family comes to LA to live with Larry David and Cheryl. Maybe next year, I thought, the smoked-out Davids could pack up and head to New Orleans. When they get off the plane some bored-looking couple could say, Oh, you're Jewish! (You'd have to have seen the show for this to make sense, and don't worry, it really wasn't funny the first time around either.)

Other than the fires, which dominate both local front pages, it's one of those days when you could make an argument for two Seattle dailies. The P-I has one of its periodic cold-case murder stories (not my cup, but pretty well done) and a James Wallace takeout on the Airbus A380 superjet, of big interest to local Boeing-heads.

The Times has a good political profile of Richard Pope, a dumbass perennial loser candidate who unexpectedly -- probably even to him -- finds himself in the thick of a race this year because his opponent for the King County Council was caught driving drunk. Good take.

And David Postman, an FOM&M, has a sharp Postman on Politics post about how Republican Dino Rossi should frame his campaign for governor. The other day I complained that both papers were underplaying the news that Rossi would run again. But I also understood the editors' decisions; neither story had more than: He's running again. What they need, I thought, is a good second-day story (but on the first day) that explains why Rossi's decision is important and spins it forward. Postman, who is a good political reporter and must have had some brilliant direction somewhere along the way, gets that. His post still could be fleshed out a bit in story form and run in the paper, but it's a good start.

Paging down his blog, I notice he took a typically Postmanesque swipe at his bosses, complaining that his coverage of Hillary Clinton's Seattle visit was buried and providing a link to his own story. But it's followed immediately by this: "UPDATE: Apparently I wasn't paying attention and the story was on the homepage. Apologies to all. I hadn't had coffee yet." Sigh. As I've told my friend David a thousand times, Be cool, man.

Finally, in sports news, tonight is the beginning of the World Series. It looks like a decent matchup between the storied Boston Red Sox and the come-from-nowhere Colorado Rockies, this year's Cinderella story. But the LAT's terrific sports columnist Bill Plaschke isn't buying it.

Plaschke, who was from Seattle before moving to Los Angeles, minces no words in his take: "The Red Sox are a much better team from a far superior league. The Rockies are the Seattle Mariners with galoshes."

Ouch.

"So the most celebrated glass slipper in recent baseball history comes clacking to the World Series," Plaschke writes. "Good. The Boston Red Sox can use it to drink their champagne."

Bill's probably right. Still. I know where I'll be at 5 o'clock.

WCBB, or: Execution, people!

Years ago at some touchy-feely management seminar where, I think, the point was never to risk offending anyone, we were instructed to approach morning news meetings with these handy acronyms in mind: WW, WCBB.

That stood for: What Worked? and What Could Be Better? The idea was, review the paper with an eye first to the successes and only then turn, gently, to the problem areas. Which should be expressed not as criticism, exactly, but as opportunities for future what-worked celebrations.

Well, OK, that is surely a nice way to put it, and it's probably invoked nowhere more welcomingly than in Seattle, the nation's per capita leader in thin-skinnedness, reporters and editors notably included.

I probably always tilted toward the WCBB anyway, but in my full-blown, semi-retired, pantleg-gripping grumpiness, I find that I see much more lately that could be better than that is working.

Take today's local papers.

The P-I strips across the top of the front page a giant AP story with the hed, "Cold medicines aren't for kids." This feels like incredibly old news to me, something I've been hearing now for at least a week. It took Michelle, filling in details from a conversation at the real news meeting, to tease out the news: The previous stories were about medicines for kids under 2; this is about children younger than 6. No clear mention of the distinction anywhere on the front; maybe they get to it after the jump.

A quick look at the Times front-page PDF shows they also lead with the cold medicine story, but it's played a little lower-key -- one wide column on the right -- and they underscore the key development clearly, right in the headline: "Warning widens on cold meds for kids." More like it.

Back to the P-I front page: An off-lede news story about a shooting in nearby White Center (fine, but why is the most important thing the fact that the "father of four" used to walk his kids to the bus stop?) and a massively overplayed feature about how life is changing for "liveaboards," the people who reside on their boats at a city marina. Yes, times change, and yes, prices go up, meaning old hippies need to make adjustments. All of which could make an interesting story, I suppose, but what this subject needs is a degree of detachment, not a lobbying pitch for its endangered "indicator species." Plus it's overwritten. If you can't get me rewrite, at least get me an editor!

I also notice the P-I has all but given up on a key feature of the last redesign, a "Top Stories" rail on the front page that offered a brief overview and index of what's going on and at least partially justified the Seattle-centric, news-lite decisions for A-1. On the Times front, which has stuck with the similar "Newsline" box, I learn quickly about some Air Force and Iraq news, a Hillary fund-raising debate and, locally, the new news that candidate Venus Velazquez' blood-alcohol level reportedly was 0.115. Pretty good.

I could go on. There's more to dislike on every section front.

We only get the P-I, and only on Fridays and Saturdays, so my old paper may end up getting a disproportionate share of my MNM rants, and I know I risk offending friends, former colleagues, and current mortgage-mates. Sorry, all. My seminar teachers would not approve.

But I also wish that for the sake of the paper's future, not to mention the poor reader and my own Friday and Saturday mornings, there was a little more attention paid to the details.

It's all in the execution, people. Much CBB.

That blows ... or does it?

Jean Godden, city councilwoman and former newspaper columnist, sober and fully underclothed, as far as we know

It's been a while since our last morning news meeting. I've been a bit under the weather.

The big story around here all week has been a giant windstorm forecast for today, Thursday. "Batten down the hatches!" screamed the Seattle P-I. The Times, ever one for precision, put it this irresistible way: "A high-wind watch has been issued for Thursday, meaning forecasters are about 50 percent certain that strong winds will blow through the region."

Sheesh. Well they got it half right.

Turns out, of course, that "the big blow" won't be that big after all. The stupid storm's not even here yet and already it's fallen short of expectations. First in a winterlong series of maybe-it'll-snow-no-never-mind articles.

Ah well, something's gotta fill up all that newsprint. As every reporter dreads but every editor knows, people love the weather stories.

In other blowing news: I don't know what blood-alcohol-content level she blew, but a local City Council candidate, Venus Velazquez, was cited last night for drunk driving. Second one of these here this year; King County Councilwoman Jane Hague also was busted a few months back. And City Councilman Richard McIver just pleaded not guilty to fourth-degree assault after being arrested for choking his wife. It's like Hollywood Northwest around here. Someone stop the madness before Jean Godden gets out of her Town Car without panties.

...

Finally, it's fun sometimes to finish the news meeting with a cautionary tale, someone else's scary correction. Check this one out, from the LA Times, as spotted on that terrific blog LA Observed. Extra points for screwing up a guy's name in his obit. No, that wasn't a boy named Sue.

You're under no obligation to read this

To begin this morning's news meeting, I'd like to call attention to Roy Peter Clark's ridiculous essay at Poynter Online, "Your Duty to Read the Paper."

As Michelle would say, puh-leez.

Clark, who always struck me as a pompous windbag, begins by confessing that he hasn't read the newspaper much lately (on paper) and vowing to renew his morning paper habit. Okeydoke, good for him. But then he elevates his own decision to a moral imperative:

I'm making a promise to myself, and now to you, to reverse this trend. The future of journalism, not just newspapers, depends upon such loyalty. And now I pose this challenge to you: It is your duty as a journalist and a citizen to read the newspaper -- emphasis on paper, not pixels.

Clark's argument is that while online journalism shows some promise financially, for now all the money to be made in this business -- and therefore to pay reporters, editors and, presumably, washed-up "senior scholars" at a "teaching foundation for journalists" -- is in the print edition of the daily newspaper. Someone's got to buy the damn things! And if we're not going to do it, he says, addressing himself to working news types, how can we expect the public to?

Well, give me a break. Did early commuters have a "duty" to buy buggy whips? Were music producers compelled by duty to keep purchasing 8-tracks? If so, a lot of good it did 'em.

Says the indispensable (and digital only) Wikipedia: "When someone recognizes a duty, they commit themselves to the cause involved without considering the self-interested courses of actions that may have been relevant previously."

Zactly.

I love the news business as much as anybody, and until the last few months I've read an actual newspaper, the paper kind, almost every day of my life. Most days more than one of them. I literally learned to read with the Oakland Tribune. But turn it into a duty, a religious requirement, and you're going to lose me faster than you can say "Hail Mary."

Next, somebody will tell me I have to play poker and ruin that too.

If "we" (and I use the term loosely now, being semi-retired) have a duty, it's to find and report the news, to tell people something they don't know and probably can't find out otherwise, and to do it with writing that's as sharp, concise and entertaining as we can make it.

Markets clear, is what I say. If people, including reporters and editors, would rather get their information from their computers, their cell phones or their Tivo'd Jon Stewart shows, that's the breaks. Figure out a better way to deliver the news or shut up and get out of the way. Go join the senior VHS scholars in dead-delivery-system nirvana.

In other news today ... I have no idea. I don't get a newspaper.

Late-night news meeting, special cancer edition

After ranting several times lately about the Seattle Times' maudlin, over-the-top writing about Gloria, the poor little girl who recently died of brain cancer, I was chagrined to see today that my erstwhile paper, the Seattle P-I, was pimping its own cancer case on the front page.

Sadder still, for me (journalistically as well as personally), because I know the story's subject.

She is Jeanne Sather, a writer I hired for a temp gig while at the Times years ago and who returned the favor by helping hook me up with a part-time editing job at OnHealth.com when I was freelancing and starting my own web busness. Shortly after I met Jeanne she discovered she had breast cancer, and she wrote an affecting and popular first-person series about it for OnHealth.

Since then, I believe much of her work has concerned her own health issues, including a blog, "The Assertive Cancer Patient: Living With Cancer -- and an Attitude." In a recent post, riffing on the Michael Moore movie "Sicko"'s affection for the Canadian health program, Jeanne "advertised" herself as available for marriage to a Canadian man who wanted a woman and would give her, in return, de facto free health care. Ho ho ho.

Now I don't begrudge anyone writing about their own health problems; I may want to do it myself someday. And Jeanne's offer -- sincere or not, I'm still not sure -- certainly made its point. Of course the idea was media-friendly as it could be. It just sounds like a story, and so naturally it was picked up by the TV news.

Still (sorry, Jeanne), I hated to see it show up today on the front page of the P-I. Maybe I'm a one-man crab on this issue, but to me these stories are manipulative, leering, derivative and almost always a cliche. I just don't like them. I hope Jeanne's health stabilizes and improves. And if she really wants a Canadian husband, and if that would help, I even want that for her. I'm just not sure I want to read about it on Page A-1 of the newspaper.

I'm more impressed, reporting-wise, by a P-I story posted tonight, a folo on the lady-stuck-eight-days-in-a-ditch story. Her husband's been dissing the sheriff's office for not finding her wrecked car sooner, but it turns out now, the P-I tells us, that investigators were thrown off by bad information provided by ... the husband.

...

In other news news, Michelle gave her presentation tonight and hosted the panel discussion. I wasn't there and she's always humble about such things, but I can tell from careful cross-examination and clue-culling that she rocked the house -- surprising absolutely no one, I'm sure.

I've very proud of her.

No morning news meeting

Michelle got right up and headed off to work, her coffee in a go-cup, so we didn't have time for the M&M morning news meeting.

Even without her here, I groaned and uttered a little profanity, right out loud, when I saw this, the top to a story in the Seattle Times:

"Here are some important notes to help you if you’re planning to attend Gloria’s funeral at 10 a.m. Thursday:"

Apparently they've canceled school that day and they're running buses between the school and the church. Man.

In other news, Malaria (Day 4 now) continues online at the Times, although it must be winding down because I notice they also have an online Q&A scheduled today with a doctor discussing genital warts. I wondered what the next disease would be. Next week, toenail fungus?

In the P-I, I notice a huge promo for the stupid, day-late goat story. It almost looks like the top of my favorite blog. I'm guessing this is the big A-1 news meeting victory Michelle was bragging about yesterday.

Second in a series: Suck media suck-jobs

"After fucking hyping this shit for months now we get a full page story telling us what's obvious in the first place: That it's bullshit."

" 'For less than $100 a year even a Hummer can be carbon neutral. At least on paper.' What bullshit."

The morning news meeting in our sun room, featuring Mark's review on yet another story about phony-ass carbon neutrality, a scheme through which people pay somebody to grow trees somewhere else, so that the energy they're wasting won't make them feel so bad.