Former Washington Blade Staff Puts Out New Paper

Like many, I was very sad to see the demise of the Washington Blade and Southern Voice as Windows Media went into Chapter 7 bankruptcy the weekend before last. I've interacted with Blade and Southern Voice staff on a number of occasions, starting back in 2003 when the Southern Voice broke the story on former "ex-gay" poster boy Michael Johnston who was sleeping around the greater Norfolk area with guys using an assumed name. That story more or less ended Johnston's lucrative career as an ex-gay for pay and he continues to hide out at a whacked out Christian "ministry." The staff has always been dedicated and concerned about putting out quality articles. I wish Kevin Naff, Chris Johnson and all the rest of the new DC-Agenda staff (pictured above) much success with the new paper. Kevin Naff had told some of us confidentially that the plan was to rise from the ashes of the Blade and I am pleased to see that the plan is moving forward. Here's some highlights from DC-Agenda's article of the new newspaper's mission:

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Don’t judge us too harshly — the edition of DC Agenda you’re holding is a modest, early iteration of what we hope to achieve in the wake of Washington Blade’s sudden closing this week.
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The former staff of the Washington Blade remains united and DC Agenda represents our effort at continuing the important mission and work of the Blade. It will grow and evolve to include a much larger and more diverse group of voices. But the core of the Washington Blade’s work remains unchanged. We will cover Congress, the White House, the LGBT rights movement, the D.C. marriage fight, local hate crimes and other political issues important to the LGBT residents of the city.
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It’s been a tough week for us, but we are buoyed by the outpouring of support from people all over the city and beyond. We welcome and need your help and will respond to each offer as soon as possible. Thank you to all who have pledged to stick with us, especially our advertisers. Please visit savetheblade.com for updated information on DC Agenda or to make a gift to support the new venture.
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The strength of the Washington Blade did not lie in its brand name — it came from the spirit of those who worked passionately to serve and inform our community. Those people are still here. Our work continues.

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The Washington Post took note of all that the Washington Blade had done over a period of 40 years and I hope the DC-Agenda will build on that illustrious past.

Virginian-Pilot Cuts 125 Jobs

The Virginian Pilot, the larger of the two newspapers in this area is cutting 125 jobs, citing declining advertising sales as the cause. While the advertising sales are down due to the economy, in my personal view, the bigger cause is the generally poor quality of the news coverage in the Virginian Pilot. Often stories of national note appear days later - if they are covered at all - than in larger newspapers after those stories have been available for 1 or 2 or 3 days online. In addition to late coverage, the Pilot has shown time and time again that the concept of investigative reporting is a virtually unknown concept. Serious readers want more than just a regurgitation of what often disingenuous people are saying when the available facts show them to be lying.

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Along this line, many of the Pilot reporters I have dealt with over the years are young, lazy, and I'm sorry to say not overly bright. As I recently told one reader who is a journalism professor in another state, you can research and write a story and give it to the Pilot reporters and the story will still come out screwed up. The only thing the Pilot has going for it is that the Daily Press on the Peninsula is even worse. Newspapers and the larger media have a serious role to play in keeping politicians and others honest through probing investigations and hard hitting reporting. Unfortunately, the Pilot forfeited this role years ago. Here are highlights from how the Virginian Pilot describes the cuts:

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Plagued by advertising declines, The Virginian-Pilot is cutting at least 125 positions - or 10 percent of a 1,260-person work force - mostly through layoffs and shutting affiliated publications, publisher Maurice Jones said Friday.

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The size of the newspaper will be reduced, and the weekday and Saturday business sections eliminated, in January, Finley said. Local business stories will appear in the front and Hampton Roads sections, he said, and the front section will include a "market page" Tuesday through Saturday. Stock listings will appear on The Pilot's Web site, Jones said.

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The Pilot, Jones said, will remain "the most thorough source of news, information and advertising in the marketplace." The newspaper's owner, Landmark Media Enterprises LLC, continues to negotiate a sale of the newspaper. A buyer is trying to get financing, Jones said. The potential sale, he said, did not influence the cost-saving measures. The Pilot also is expanding ways to generate revenue, Jones said. In October, it began printing front-page advertisements.
"The paper will be a little smaller," Finley said. "I think readers will notice. We will keep the quality of the journalism as high as possible. There will just be less of it in the daily Pilot."

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Already struggling with Internet competition, newspapers nationwide have suffered further declines in advertising and circulation with the shriveling economy this year. Many have been cutting costs and laying off workers.

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A recent report showed that The Pilot's average circulation for the six months that ended on Sept. 30 declined slightly less than the national average. The weekday average fell to 174,573, down 3.4 percent from the previous year, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported. The Sunday average fell 4.3 percent, to 200,457. The declines nationally were 4.6 percent on weekdays and 4.8 percent on Sundays.

Circuation Falling at Most Newspapers

This Editor & Publisher story (http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003667950) is not a surprise to me, especially when I think of our local newspaper, the Virginian Pilot, where the concept of investigative reporting is none existent and any news concerning matters outside of the area usually involves wire service stories or stories available 1-3 days earlier in larger papers. The Pilot is basically a platform for selling advertisements and sadly not much more. I have often jokingly said that for a decent salary I could do the job of several reporters and actually cover some news and perhaps stir up some changes in corrupt local politics, etc. Here are some story highlights:

NEW YORK The Audit Bureau of Circulations released circulation numbers for more than 700 daily newspapers this morning for the six-month period ending September 2007. Of the top 25 papers in daily circulation (see chart, separate story), only four showed gains. According to an analysis of ABC figures, for 538 daily U.S. newspapers, circulation declined 2.5% to 40,689,617. For 609 papers that filed on Sunday, overall circulation dropped 3.5% to 46,771,486. The percentages are based on comparisons from the same period a year ago and represent the majority of the paper's reporting into ABC -- less than half in the country.

With the rise of the Internet, newspapers in my view need to be more responsive to the desire for investigative stories that state the facts and let the reader decide their conclusion. The papers also need to do a better job at regularly updating the online versions as well, otherwise bloggers cover the stories before the newspapers ever get off their butts.