You can look at yesterday's Seattle city council meeting to discuss issues surrounding the probable shuttering of one of the city's two daily papers and be shocked by the ignorance of public officials and old-ways experts about the state of the news business.
Or you can find specks of progress. After the meeting adjourned, the cameras were shut down and the tweeting quieted, I showed a Seattle elected official how to use Quantcast to see just how significant the audience of Seattle's neighborhood blogs is.
One click, one vote. See? Good equation.
Loss sets people thinking about the future. I went to the meeting to make sure I had a chance to tell people the future is happening right now. Tracy Record of the West Seattle Blog was on the council's panel and did a great job to make that message clear. You don't need to save a paper to save journalism. Journalism is saving itself.
But there will be questions, new journalists. Things you will need to answer:
Fortunately, the answers are already burning in your brain -- they're why you chose to be this kind of news and info gatherer. We trust you because of time, effort, transparency and clarity that your business can't afford for you not to be trusted. You will make a living by producing quality content that is valued. Others will profit because there are always more stories to be told and more news areas to be covered. As for the past, tell them it's changing with you. Newspapers, for example, are built by talented individuals. The most talented will soon be creating new businesses like yours.
Neighborlogs is a small part of that. We're building tools to help people tell the new news and manage businesses that are sustainable and scalable. Some of the sites will grow into entities that do everything a major daily does and more. Some will fade away. And, of course, Neighborlogs and neighborhood blogging are not alone. There will still be newspapers. Some will change. Others will start fresh. Others already have changed and are thriving. There is an explosion of independent, entrepreneurial efforts across the spectrum of news topics and around the world.
Back home, the potential loss of the Seattle PI has confused many. They are mistaking the explosion for somebody rattling garbage cans in the alley. How do we keep things the same? We don't. Most are already in the process of finding new things. Want proof? Ask a Seattle city councilmember to show you Quantcast sometime. Progress.
