Intelligence axed in Seattle
It’s noteworthy and quite right that Hearst’s revised media product in Seattle makes no pretence at credibility by retaining the word “intelligence” in the name of the thingy that replaced the Post-Intelligencer…
It’s noteworthy and quite right that Hearst’s revised media product in Seattle is called seattlepi.com,
with no attempt to retain the word “intelligence” in the name. Hearst
sacked dozens of professional journalists when it folded the dead-tree Seattle Post-Intelligencer
and replaced it with an online-only thingy staffed by a ragged coterie
of a few remaining staff and a host of citizen journalists, etc., etc.
Included in the intense and copious reaction to the closure is a forum for the news-“paper” staff hosted by the Columbia Journalism Review. Wrote reporter Debera Harrell:
In
an era where Paris Hilton and Angelina Jolie’s breastfeeding earn the
most hits off our website, maybe real journalists are not needed.
But the public will be far poorer for it — and I worry about the
citizenship, educational and democratic implications of it all.
