Writers in the Rain
Lots of newspapers seem to be jealous of their less print-dependent media cousins. We all know the trends: shorter articles, bolder graphics, websites with video links. But I love what the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is doing: accentuating the positives of the very trait others call a weakness.
The P-I is bringing in regional literary celebrities as "writers in residence" to write, basically, whatever they want. I predict that even if some of them shovel out some of their old failures, the program will still work. (The daily nature of newspapers is far more forgiving of experiments and even missteps than magazines or books are.) The move makes particular sense in Seattle, known as a very literate community, but it's based on a similar program in San Francisco.
Much credit has to go to David McCumber, sometime Montanan and former editor of Big Sky Journal, who also directed the P-I's coverage of the Libby (Montana) vermiculite disaster, breaking the biggest environmental story in the last 10-15 years. Some credit should also go to the fact that Seattle is a two-newspaper city, and competition encourages risk-taking. And finally, some credit should go to the writers themselves, for being willing to participate. I can't wait for the results; I've added the RSS feed to the left column here.
I'm always interested in feedback, via info at johnclaytonbooks dot com
The P-I is bringing in regional literary celebrities as "writers in residence" to write, basically, whatever they want. I predict that even if some of them shovel out some of their old failures, the program will still work. (The daily nature of newspapers is far more forgiving of experiments and even missteps than magazines or books are.) The move makes particular sense in Seattle, known as a very literate community, but it's based on a similar program in San Francisco.
Much credit has to go to David McCumber, sometime Montanan and former editor of Big Sky Journal, who also directed the P-I's coverage of the Libby (Montana) vermiculite disaster, breaking the biggest environmental story in the last 10-15 years. Some credit should also go to the fact that Seattle is a two-newspaper city, and competition encourages risk-taking. And finally, some credit should go to the writers themselves, for being willing to participate. I can't wait for the results; I've added the RSS feed to the left column here.
I'm always interested in feedback, via info at johnclaytonbooks dot com
