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Seattle PostGlobe folds after ‘eventful two years’

avatar by Published July 29, 2011 10:03 am Updated July 29, 2011 10:05 am

Seattle PostGlobe
“Reluctant news entrepreneur” Kery Murakami launched nonprofit PostGlobe after the Seattle Post-Intelligencer went under in 2009. “Part of our purpose for starting PostGlobe was to provide former P-I staffers both hope and an outlet,” writes co-founder Sally Deneen. “But as a volunteer-run site, we’ve run out of helping hands as unemployed journalists have left for jobs. (Which is a good thing!)” Donations have fallen off, she adds. “Ads have generated no meaningful revenue — ever. We began with no startup money. We obtained no grants. All of which actually provided unusual freedom.”

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  • Anonymous

    The fabulous Texas Tribune was started by a multi-millionaire who used
    $1 million of his own money to launch it, along with $2 million raised
    from others. Yes, it was started by a businessman, but even its
    future isn’t secure, as you say; no one’s future is. Every member of
    Investigative News Network is struggling with how to keep their
    investigative ventures going, as foundation funding is by no means
    guaranteed. So the nonprofit business model is still a work in progress.

    Psychic trauma is real. It is a gut-churning experience to be fired en masse. Careers cut short. Homes at risk. Medical insurance gone. Most everyone you know is out of work. Some colleagues 2 years later remain unemployed during this
    Great Recession. Unemployment benefits have expired. And you believe not one single person who went through this should feel trauma? Psychic trauma, according to TheFreeDictionary.com, is “an emotional wound or shock often having long-lasting effects.”

    The PostGlobe was run as a labor of love for most of its two years
    rather than an attempt to turn it into a money-making business. After star City Hall reporter/spearhead Kery Murakami quit the site, there wasn’t a serious attempt to turn it into a site that would provide anyone a salary. Our nonprofit site was an anomaly — it is not, and should not, be seen on the same footing as Texas Tribune and others.

    Yes, historically print reporters were insulated from the reality of what sold newspapers because there was a firewall between the ad department and reporters. That is because of what I believe journalism is supposed to be about: informing the electorate so we have an informed democracy. In-depth reporting, speaking truth to power, uncovering wrongs — that is the point of journalism. Yes, it’s a business, but it’s a business whose existence is about more than making a buck.

    Obviously to be sustainable in the long run, a new business model is needed. It is not news that the business model is broken. If you expected PostGlobe to come up with a new business model, we’re sorry to let you down.

    And now I need to go back to putting my full attention toward running the business I’ve run for 20 years — the business of being a successful freelance writer. PostGlobe was a volunteer effort for me, and I’m proud of what we did. – Sally Deneen

  • Anonymous

    Sally,
    Actually, its not true that no one has figured out a business model. The Texas Tribune is a non-profit with a $3,000,000 annual budget and breaks even. But, it was started by a businessman with the priority on revenue first, journalism second. It’s really a good site featuring award winning journalists who receive paychecks. That being said, revenue models for online news is a challenge and I do not have it all figured out.

    The “project to fill the gap after the trauma of the closing of P-I” quote is a little over the top. Losing a job is not pleasant, but trauma? Breaking your neck or losing a family member is trauma. Losing your job is a setback. I’m sure your former P-I co-workers from sales, marketing and print operations got over their trauma by getting to work on resumes and applying for work.

    I read your link and the link from 2009 from CJR. It is clear that the guy who founded it loves reporting, especially on the loss of Seattle’s dive bars and run down homes. However, he admittedly had no business plan. He said he hoped someone would jump out and donate money. Journalists of today need to be more business savvy and entrepreneurial. If you are going to be dealing with businesses to seek funding then you have to be able to walk in and speak to them in their language. An introverted reporter wearing a flannel shirt, jeans and a wallet held together duct tape won’t cut it. And no one in business would ever get involved with an organization where the founder thinks that having no revenue is a “freedom” or a positive thing. Nor does it make sense for anyone in business to invest in an operation that is “filling the gap after the trauma of closing the P-I”.

    I’m no fan of Casey Anthony or cat videos either. But I’m sure your old paper had comics, puzzles, celebrity birthdays, horoscopes, Dear Abbey columns and adult nightclub ads in the sports section. If they were printing today they no doubt would have Casey Anthony stories too.

    Historically, print reporters were insulated from the reality of what really sold newspapers because the newspaper almost effortlessly made money. But now they are learning that “in-depth” journalism wasn’t the main driver in selling newspapers.

  • Anonymous

    Hi JMDaniels,
      It’s sounds as if you have figured out a sustainable business model for in-depth journalism (beyond requiring fashion photos and cat videos and Casey Anthony stories to encourage clicks on an ad-dependent site that buries or doesn’t offer public-affairs reporting).
      But my understanding is that no one has that figured out.
      No one.
      Here’s a story that explains how our site was “an anomaly,” a project to fill the gap after the trauma of the closure of the print P-I: http://crosscut.com/blog/crosscut/20435/Born-of-P-I-s-shutdown%2C-PostGlobe-to-stop-/. 
     - Sally Deneen

  • Anonymous

    It’s not hard to see why this failed. When the founder says it’s a good thing that its journalists have left for other jobs you know they didn’t have a capable manager. I would have expected perhaps an apology for losing those talented journalists by not being able to generate revenue for the organization. What you have an idealistic, save the world type reporter, but not a capable business manager.

    He also went on to say that having no grants, falling donations and no ad revenue provided unusual freedom. What? Working for free and being broke is not freedom. The thing failed, but the founder twists that into some kind of freedom.

    I have found that print and TV reporters have no idea how sales and revenue works or the the specific types of advertisers that fuel their industry and salaries. I don’t mean to say they have to change their reporting to serve advertisers, but they typically have no knowledge of how their industry works. I have worked in revenue challenged newsrooms where reporters reflexively think that cutbacks are some conspiracy against them by evil corporate overlords without knowing the true business issues facing the company.

    It the new world, journalists can no longer afford to be so ignorant about their business.