We've now "observed" two future of news media via Twitter (the City Club and ONA events) and watched the Seattle City Council and "No News Is Bad News" events go down via their live stream (while eyeing the #nnbn Twitter channel). One caveat before we recap: what we've learned is mostly useless in practical terms. more ›

The same day the CityClub of Seattle was holding--and tweeting--its panel discussion "The Newspaper Business: Sunset or a New Dawn?" strange things were happening. The P-I linked directly to a story on the West Seattle Blog. KIRO 7 TV started filing stories on Twitter, following KING 5's lead, though KING 5 was using its Twitter feed today to promote its new Facebook page. News is suddenly everywhere. At the panel, tears were still being shed over Craigslist stealing all those classified ad dollars back in the late '90s--right about the time that everyone in the U.S. was reading Who Moved My Cheese? Ten years later, major newspaper chains are still at the mercy of a cramped, ugly, lo-fi site started by some guy in San Francisco. Hearst thinks the P-I is a money-loser; from where we're sitting, the guys who've been losing billions are in the corporate suites, paying themselves top dollar while they redesign the buggy whip paper to make it more attractive to younger readers. more ›

Someone who seems to think he's Michael Kinsley responded to our cherry-picked quote from Kinsley's talk at the City Club Year in Review event. Watch as we eviscerate his feeble appeal to a coherent "truth." We've seen Rashomon, Kinsley.

I never said (at the City Club event) that bloggers in general are distasteful or that they don't have the right to say anything they want, unpleasant or otherwise.

In fact, I said the precise opposite. I was describing some comments about me, and they WERE unpleasant. But of course they have the right. And, as I said, blogging nets out a positive force in journalism despite some creeps.

Thanks for letting me clear that up. It's a sore point, obviously.

(UPDATE: Apparently Michael Kinsley did not call blogging in general "extremely distasteful." That makes the remainder of this post less interesting. We don't advise paying much attention to it.) more ›

The Seattle Times and City Club sponsored yesterday's debate between Rob McKenna and John Ladenburg, which was hosted at Seattle University as part of the school's Social Justice Week program. Times crack reporter Bob Young reports on how it all went down. We'll cut straight to the important part: neither are for legalization of marijuana, and in fact McKenna wants to reclassify pot as a "more serious drug" thanks to BC growers' potent strains. more ›