Fixing a hole

There's big news over at Willamette Weed. They're starting up a nonprofit organization that will engage in investigative journalism around Oregon and have its stories run in local media outlets in the covered areas.  And like the man says, "We're putting our best people on it." Nigel Jaquiss, the Jack Ruby of Portland journalism, is involved, as is long-time Weed boss Mark Zusman.

Exactly how it is all going to work is not crystal clear to me at the moment. But the "statewide civic newsroom" will be called "Oregon Journalism Project," and it will be somehow affiliated with an established national outfit called Alternative Newsweekly Foundation. Apparently the structure they're using, or something like it, is working in a few other states.

It appears that some of the articles will be produced by students majoring in journalism in college. I can relate personally to the value of that, particularly if the students get paid something decent for their work. But there is never going to be enough money in newspaper subscriptions, their online equivalents, and advertising to make local news profitable in most places, even if people are willing to write for peanuts. And so the nonprofit setup allows rich folk to make tax-deductible donations that ultimately pay writers and editors.

The arrangement will not be entirely separate from the Weed. Not only will some of the new organization's content appear in that publication, but the project website also refers to "Willamette Week, from which our back-office services are provided via a service agreement." I assume that the nonprofit will pay the Weed for the services provided under the agreement, which could lead to some interesting entanglements.

But whatever the details will be, far be it from me to deny that local journalism in the state is on its death bed, if not already in its grave. For instance, here's a news nugget on the project's website that I had not heard before:

In Portland, the New York City-owned newspaper The Oregonian is a shadow of its former self — with newsroom staff down 90% in just 10 years, it now operates remotely with a skeleton crew and is expected to stop printing this year, as have other newspapers in this chain.

Is the O going online-only soon? Big news, I suppose, although I have not held a hard copy of that product in my hands for many years.

A new model for journalism will take some getting used to, but somebody needs to be keeping an eye on all those giant vats of public money to which the politicians and bureaucrats have access. I hope this project can make a real mark as a watchdog, and that the model doesn't lead any well-intentioned people into trouble.