UPDATED: InvestigateWest says they're pushing back their launch until Monday because of some technical bugs.
This seems like a week of milestones for those of us trying to fill the gaps in journalism.
InvestigateWest, made up of some of our old colleagues at the Seattle P-I, launches its site Wednesday.
The effort is made up of many of the members of the P-I’s old investigative team. Here’s the impressive lineup.
* Rita Hibbard, executive director and editor
* Lewis Kamb, investigative journalist
* Daniel Lathrop, chief data evangelist and computer-assisted reporting specialist
* Robert McClure, environmental journalist
* Carol Smith, narrative journalist
* Kristen Millares Young, investigative journalist
They were stars at the P-I, and we really wish them well.
While we at the PostGlobe are trying to fill in some of the gaps in local coverage left when the P-I laid off nearly the entire staff, InvestigateWest wants to fill the investigative work they used to do at the paper … and more.
This from its Web site:
InvestigateWest is a new model for investigative journalism focused on the West and on issues that resonate here – the environment, social justice and health. We are an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to the art and craft of investigative and narrative journalism.
The old model for supporting and conducting public service journalism has collapsed. Thousands of traditional journalism jobs have simply vanished in this region, and along with them the opportunity for the kind of in-depth, investigative reporting and memorable storytelling that keeps citizens engaged and informed about changes shaping their lives. InvestigateWest continues the reporting essential to democracy. We have the passion for investigative journalism and the creative ambition to find and connect with new audiences.
They are some of the best journalists in the region.
Meanwhile, another success story, Publicola, holds a celebration in town. Though Josh Feit, a former editor and political writer at the Stranger, didn’t found Publicola specifically to fill in the gaps left by the demise of the print P-I, the site has become a valuable source for local political news.
And it’s only going to grow. The site recently found investors after months of struggling along financially, just as we are. Since hiring Erica Barnett, a well-sourced editor and political reporter (also from the Stranger), the site has begun adding local issues coverage to being Seattle’s source for local political insider news.
Publicola’s staff is holding a celebration Wednesday at 5:30 at The Rob Roy in Belltown – 2323 Second Ave. between Bell and Battery streets.
On a sadder note, The Seattle Courant, a site started by former journalism students, is closing.
The editor, Keith Vance, wrote the farewell: “This experiment in building a narrowly focused online daily newspaper in Seattle is over. Why? The short answer is money. But there’s more to it than that.”
As for the PostGlobe, we’re still here. Though we haven’t done everything we’d like to do eventually, we’re trying our best to make up for some of the coverage the city lost when the P-I ceased print publication.
I’m proud of what we’ve done. We’ve done stories that went unreported elsewhere and would not have been reported if the PostGlobe did not exist. At other times, we’ve done stories that have been reported by other sites, but not with quite the same depth.
We’ve been joined by journalists who did not work at the P-I. Sara Keisler was a reporter at The Daytona Beach (Fla.) News-Journal. Her story on Joe Mallahan is probably the most complete story that’s been done so far on the mayoral candidate. The story of the closing of Olsen’s Scandinavian Foods in Ballard appeared in blogs, but not with the same skill or depth as the piece written by Hugo Kugiya, a former reporter for The Seattle Times, Newsday and The Associated Press.
I’m proud we’ve told stories that largely went unreported everywhere else about an immigrant facing deportation, the uninsured, the challenges facing the Tenants Union, the latest from “Nickelsville” and the troubles facing social-service agencies, and the undercovered bus cuts loomin in Seattle.
The list is too long. See some of our best work here, both in words and photographs. But we’ve given a platform to our old film critics. Many of you have written to say you’re happy to be able to read the theater reviews of Gianni Truzzi and John Hickey’s reporting on the Mariners.
Another story that comes to mind is the piece from former Seattle Times reporter, Hiimanee Gupta, and her husban Jim Gupta-Carlson, who documented 24 hours on MLK.
So it hasn’t been easy, but I’m glad we’re here so that these journalists still have a place to do their work.
There’s still more we’d like to do, though. To list a few: more coverage of city issues, more truth-scrutiny of the candidates, and more stories of people and neighborhood institutions that make up Seattle. hiring a full-time photographer and paying our volunteer copy editor.
As Keith Vance says, though, it requires money. Thank you to all who have donated thus far. If you think that what we’re trying here is worthwhile, please consider making recurring donations so we can keep going from month to month. If you haven’t donated yet, please consider joining those who have.
And please spread the word about our site.
