The Tribune and the Sun-Times shrink before our eyes, laying off reporters by the dozens. The Tribune files for bankruptcy. Who will watch the city if these eyes blink shut?
Beers explains, “What we did was sort of unpacked what the newspaper of record has been.” It’s been the sum of many parts, among them entertainment listings, lifestyle columns, and service pieces. “And all that coexists with the serious discussions about holding power accountable, helping civil society work through its next steps.” To Beers, this was the part that really mattered, and he saw shrinking newspapers throwing it over the side.
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“The way we can expand,” says Beers, “is to develop partnerships with philanthropists and private donors who want to see journalism done about certain subjects. For example, if someone’s highly concerned about global warming and wants reporting on the Western Climate Initiative, that person could make a grant to the Tyee knowing we have audience credibility and standard journalistic practices already. They make the grant and we add somebody for a while who has that beat.” Beers concedes that what he’s talking about “raises a question about editorial independence” but tells himself the old mass-media model was full of compromises too.
“When I look at David Brewster’s model,” says Beers, who’s talking with Brewster about collaborating on regional stories that would run on both sites, “he went with a more bland presentation, a more neutral tone, and did it in a less polarized political environment. In the long run he might do better than us, as a sort of Internet public radio. Whereas we’re seen—we advertise ourselves—as feisty.”
“We are a very small organization,” Beers concedes. “The big evolutionary hurdle is the one between one or two people fiddling around with some cheap, ubiquitous software and the next step—producing credibly sourced, professional journalism and attracting some audience. You can do it with few people and a small budget, but you’ll remain in some kind of political newsletter zone. Moving from quixotic start-up to serious organization—that’s not easy.”
