The newspaper company I work for in the Seattle area was sold (1 Viewer)

[Kris]

I wasn't sure where to put this, so I'll start here ... but I am not sure how this will impact how the NHRA National event is covered when the race comes to Seattle (or Kent, I should say) in July.

On Nov. 30 then owner Peter Horvitz sold King County Journal Newspapers to Black Press.
I work for the Covington-Maple Valley Reporter (and in the past wrote sports for three other Reporter newspapers), which is part of the company's community newspaper division.
In late December, Don Kendall, general manager of what is now called King County Publications Limited announced that the King County Journal, the daily newspaper covering the suburbs of Seattle from the Snohomish county line to the Pierce County line would shut down. It published for the last time on Sunday, Jan. 21.

They initially announced laying off 40 people from the Journal. Now, as those of you in this area may know, Mark Klaas did a bang up job covering drag racing while the NHRA was in town for the Journal. He is now editor of the Auburn Reporter, part of the community newspaper group.

I plan to talk to him soon since I consider Pacific Raceways in my area (just five minutes from Covington, Wash.) about covering the track and all the events that happen there.

We now have sports writers dedicated to just sports (before they had to write business stories, too) so I am contemplating how we'll be covering this.

Anyway, all of the Reporter newspapers have launched Web sites, which is awesome. It may also allow us to do coverage of the races live on the Web site ... I dunno.

Also, the papers have gone from publishing twice monthly to twice weekly, so we could do actual coverage of the event, but as I said, I'm not sure how that's going to work or what Mark Klaas may do on a freelance basis.

But things have crazy busy for me and so I haven't been posting much. I am not a sports writer anymore (but have a background in it) but I hope to have some input as to how the race is covered this summer. I think we could do a much better job than anyone else in the area does.

So, anyway, I wanted to throw it out there because it's affected me dramatically on a personal level and I know that folks like to keep up with national events as they happen, so it would be cool to get some input on how y'all would like to see that happen in an ideal world.

 

[Dougster]

Wow, this is big news indeed, Kris. How about you - are you okay? I couldn't tell if you're still employed with the new company or not...

As far as coverage of the CSK Nationals goes, it'd be great to see some "live updates" via the web. I won't be able to read any of them since I'll be there for the Nationals and don't have a lap-top, but it'll be nice for the folks at home. I think some sort of "daily impressions" and fan interviews (like ME! ) would be nice... You could cover the day's action and results if you want, but really that's what DRC is for.

Where in the Kent area can I get a copy of the newspaper?

 

[DragFan2]

Kris, I too was left a little confused. It sounds like you still have your job and your newspaper was not shutdown, but does this mean it is on shaky ground? Can't tell.

I saw that the Seattle Post Intelligencer was maybe shutting down too? Or was that just a rumour? I wouldn't know anything about the printed papers up there other than the fact that my sister lives in Seattle and I've been in touch with her alot lately.

Keep us posted and straighten us out, okay?

 

[Kris]

Heh. Sorry for not being clear. Some journalist I am.

The Reporter newspapers have always been profitable while the Journal was not. So, they're growing and expanding and changing, especially since the powers that be chose to shut down the Journal.

As a result, my job is plenty secure. It's been pretty nuts and I go back and forth between being excited and being freaked because it's a dramatic change.

At this point, I'm rolling with the punches.

Yeah, I suspect live updates aren't really necessary, but posting results on the web site at the end of each day is something that might be cool.

But, increasing the frequency of publication of the Reporter newspapers allows us to actually cover the race. That's a nice change of pace.

So, we shall see what happens.

This seems like a good thing all around for our readers and the organizations in the communities we cover.

Time to grow and evolve.

 

[Nitrohaulic]

Sounds like the trucking business. Be careful who you talk about because you might be working for them tomorrow, unless you've already BEEN working for them and just don't know it yet! I happen to think a little abrupt, totally unexpected change now and then is good for ya! Good luck!