Patrick: Quit Linking To CDA Press

143 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

• 

  cantyoureadthesigns on March 05 at 10:21 a.m.

  HA!

  The dead-tree media is going down in flames and now their online counterparts are out with the long knives.

  Methinks there is something else behind this than the generic, meaningless statement “the online landscape has changed…”.

• 

  Arch_Druid on March 05 at 10:21 a.m.

  Mike Patrick probably hates the idea of getting some unwelcome comments about the stuff he publishes. Well, he can publish some pretty rancid stuff, especially when it comes to the letters to the editor in “Readers Write.”

  Problem for him is, that it is still up on his web site and anyone can check in. And will still have cause to comment, even if it is somewhere else. He can always tone down the rancid material and make his general opinion pages more family friendly. I could also add, that he probably had this heartburn following that Wednesday editorial excusing Avista’s continued demand for more money that ratepayers locally no longer really have. If he doesn’t want to see such a column excoriated, then he could consider the human toll.

• 

  JeanC on March 05 at 10:23 a.m.

  Their loss. I think it is silly of sites to forbid linking as that cuts down their traffic from people who otherwise wouldn’t got there directly, but might decide to stick around once they found them.

• 

  toadman on March 05 at 10:31 a.m.

  What do I think of this? It’s third grade level pettiness. Someone call the whaaaaaaambulance!

• 

  moscow_minidoka on March 05 at 10:33 a.m.

  Wow! Score one for DFO against the forces of douchebaggery.

• 

  Cabbage Boy on March 05 at 10:36 a.m.

  His prerogative, but sounds like someone doesn’t understand the “online landscape”. But as can’tread said, there has to be something else going on.

  Wonder if he contacted Google about this also? :)

• 

  Cindy_H on March 05 at 10:44 a.m.

  Well, the Press just lost this reader, bringing their total readership down to 41, I believe.

  *Actually, I’ve never read the Press and only check it out online if DFO has a link up to something that looks interesting. Mebbe someone should explain to Mr. Patrick that links+traffic=revenue. Or not.*

• 

  Sisyphus on March 05 at 10:51 a.m.

  Dave! You’re so popular. And I haven’t yet carried through on my threat to sign up over there. They don’t want the traffic? Well I don’t listen to Dave, why would I listen to them? You know what to do Dave. Link away.

  How about the cryptic and curious “we’re going to be doing some new things…”? Imagine a paper declining scrutiny yet inviting it at the same time. Keep us posted.

• 

  Buddy Bob on March 05 at 10:53 a.m.

  Humm, a journalist (well maybe) who doesn’t understand the law about the internet - not to mention driving traffic… Who is the gentleman here???

• 

  DFO on March 05 at 10:58 a.m.

  Sis; If I get any more unpopular, I’m going to begin hating myself. Of course, I’m going to link away. Nothing will change but the use of the terrific photos by Jerome Pollos. The photos from the Press that make it to the Internet are a different animal than links. We put a note on ours that sez the Press can’t use SR photos. So it isn’t surprising that the Press should now reciprocate. I pity Jerome, though. He really has talent and deserves all the online exposure he can get. Mebbe he can use it to get out of the Press sweat shop — even in a lousy situation as the newspaper industry is now in.

• 

  Sisyphus on March 05 at 11:10 a.m.

  Yup, that’s my read on it too. Copyright, she be a beeyotch sometimes. Too bad for Pollos.

  What do you suppose they’re up to? Hagedone gonna sue you guys? Talk about cannibalism.

• 

  Arch_Druid on March 05 at 11:12 a.m.

  When we already get a press subscription, photos we can check out at any time. Links to articles, Dave can continue to do.

• 

  Aliasjax on March 05 at 11:13 a.m.

  Proprietary thinking in an open source world…tsk, tsk…it isn’t working in China, why in the world does MP think it’ll benefit the Press??? What’s really funny is that the Grateful Dead figured this out long ago, but our titans of corporate industry still think they must try to control access…silly and counter productive to revenue generation.

• 

  hmoffsuite on March 05 at 11:20 a.m.

  Patrick is displaying his ignorance insofar as business and marketing are concerned. How much does the Press spend every year to gain ‘exposure’? When it is handed to them on a silver platter, they walk away from it. Bad business judgement, in my mind.

• 

  Cabbage Boy on March 05 at 11:21 a.m.

  My take is they may be looking at revamping the website. Maybe making it pay only? Course I am a techie type, but this could be the reason. They don’t want the old links allowing a backdoor into their site. Seems odd though, as the internet forgets nothing. And the internet is much bigger than just HBO.

  So I am probably off base here.

• 

  Sisyphus on March 05 at 11:21 a.m.

  Methinks this is personal, not monetary. We’re only talking chump change.

• 

  DFO on March 05 at 11:30 a.m.

  They may kill their site if they make it pay only. Our site offers freebie stuff. And HBO is able to pull stuff from behind the firewall. I find it interesting that Editor Steve McClure/Moscow-Pullman Daily News, Opinion Editor Jim Fisher/Lewiston Tribune, & Publisher Dan Hammes/St. Maries Gazette-Record gladly provided the OK that allows me to link to stories behind their firewall. They understand — now listen to this, Mike — that such activity. Promotes. Their. Web site. Big time. Similarly, I’m grateful to my cyber buddy Orb (Orbusmax) for linking to Huckleberries regularly on his compilation site that gets good traffic in western Washington. I return the favor by linking to the “Orbusmax Special” every INorthwest roundup that I do. It drives traffic to his site. Mike’s note further underscores that the Press remains fairly clueless re: cyberspace after all these years.

• 

  Kage_Mann on March 05 at 11:38 a.m.

  Question: What do you think of this development?

  I think it’s only a matter of time before another website, forbids
  DFO from linking to their webpage also. ;-)

• 

  cantyoureadthesigns on March 05 at 11:39 a.m.

  “you have no idea how much traffic huckleberries sends to your site via the links”

  I’m guessing that traffic is indeed measurable.

  DFO, ask your techie if the S/R can measure hits to HBO that come from links on Orbusmax.

• 

  Nick_Adams on March 05 at 11:45 a.m.

  MM summed it up nicely. Patrick has always seemed petty, but this a new low. Thanks for the peek behind the curtain.

• 

  JamesBond on March 05 at 11:54 a.m.

  Never get into a fight with someone who buys their ink by the barrel, unless you (of course) also buy your ink by the barrel.

  :-)

• 

  DFO on March 05 at 11:56 a.m.

  007; ink? What’s that?

• 

  Charlie on March 05 at 12:03 p.m.

  Maybe Mr. Patrick hears footsteps behind him and is trying to cover like a cat in a liter box.

• 

  DFO on March 05 at 12:03 p.m.

  Izzit just me, or does this “Banned at the Coeur d’Alene Press” have the same feel as the Kootenai County Courthouse ban imposed on Huckleberries Online by then-commissioner Gus Johnson a coupla years back. Dan of the County, I believe, was the common-sense pol who told the commissioners to pound sand and led courthouse blurkers safely back to the HBO promise land …

• 

  Joker on March 05 at 12:15 p.m.

  I can hear their corporate bots talking about this during a budget meeting.

  BOT 1: “Online revenue is down 15 percent. What are we going to do about it.”

  BOT 2: “The good news is that our page hits are steadily going up, about 3 percent. People love our site.”

  BOT 3: “My newphew was talking about blogs and how they’re so cool. I think we need a blog.”

  BOT 2: “Blog, what the hell is blog?”

  BOT 1: We have a blog, Unfortunately, very few people visit our blog.”

  Secretary: “I don’t know sir. The Spokesman-Review has a blog site called Huckleberries. It’s very popular. Look here it is.”

  BOT 3: “What? Let me see that. Hey, they’re using our stories. Do they pay us for that?”

  BOT 1: “No. Mike Patrick told me that the moderator asked iif he could use it and Mike said it was fine.”

  BOT 2: “They can’t do that. That’s our stuff. We need to stop them. Get Mike Patrick over here now!”

  Patrick: “Howdy.”

  BOT 3: “DId you authorize the Spokesman-Review to use our content without paying for it.”

  Patrick: “Uh, Golly, Yes.

  BOT 3: “What!! I should fire you right now.”

  Patrick: “Sir, they can do it without permission. The lawyers told me the internet laws allow them to do it. There’s nothing we can do…”

  BOT 2: “I don’t care. Tell them to stop. Tell them to stop right now.”

  Patrick: “Yes sir.”

  BOT 1: “If we drive their site out of business, then all people will wander over to our ultra-cool site and we can capture more revenue.:

  BOT 2 and BOT 3: “Great idea. Let’s do it.”

• 

  florined on March 05 at 12:24 p.m.

  I’m suspecting a combination of both monetary and snit-provocation motives. I’d be surprised if they don’t start charging for access to their website; I’m surprised they didn’t, long ago.

• 

  joebu on March 05 at 12:30 p.m.

  Nice, Joker. Scary how true it could be, knowing how some policy decisions are made there. But nice nonetheless! (And kudos for adapting your tone well to the current kinder, gentler HBO model).

  I’m reserving judgment on this till I see what the new landscape Mike is talking about. My gut tells me he is taking some degree of direction from his bosses on this. Say what you want about him or the paper, but Mike is pretty savvy, Web- and blog-wise. He did some very ground-breaking things with site content and newspaper blogs years ago in Provo, long before most papers decided to step up to the online plate.

• 

  hmoffsuite on March 05 at 12:33 p.m.

  If they were to charge for access to their website, they would have few takers, imo. I read the Press daily as well as the SR online. Being out of town, it enables me to keep in touch with what is going on in the area. The SR is marvelous. Complete story listing and well worth the 7 bucks I have paid in the past for full access. The Press, on the other hand, has only a couple of stories daily and the content is so limited, it wouldn’t attract many online subscribers, in my thinking.

• 

  florined on March 05 at 12:43 p.m.

  Ditto, HMO. Perhaps they’re thinking of expanding their online offering AND charging. I’ll wait till I see. I too have subscribed online to SR for a number of years, and read the Press offerings, most mornings, online. Of course, in addition to subscribing to The Nation, I occasionally buy a copy of American Spectator.

• 

  Liz on March 05 at 1:06 p.m.

  I don’t know that I can add anything that anyone else has added here…
  But mebbe it’s time for me to save a little money and stop subscribing to the press…how petty can you get…

• 

  OrangeTV on March 05 at 1:47 p.m.

  Silliness. Makes me want to start a website dedicated to reprinting CDA Press articles and pix, just to get their hairy little goats. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to pay to read their site as it currently stands. It’s tortuous enough for free.

  btw I just KNOW they’ve been stealing the listings from the music & events calendar I have on my blog and in the SR every week. It’s a lot of work to put that together and they just copy and reprint parts of it every Friday. I never really cared too much, as it is public info, but maybe I should send them an email requesting for them to stop. Ha!

• 

  leisure on March 05 at 1:50 p.m.

  The real clue is in Patrick’s statement: “…and we’re going to be doing some new things…”

  Which in Hagaspeak translates as: “Duane is really mad at you Olivera, and you better cooperate with me or I’m in serious trouble!”

• 

  Bent on March 05 at 2:41 p.m.

  I agree with Joe Butler. Mike Patrick is cmost likely harged with doing something new and he is simply carrying out orders.

  I don’t believe he’s trying to be petty — not at all. I know Mike Patrick, and he is a gracious man if nothing else… and I’m certain he expected the response he got from DFO.

  So, please let’s avoid making this personal. Cd’A Press is clearly a business that competes head-to-head in the same market as the S-R.

  Much like Joker illustrated above, someone higher up is probably questioning why the Cd’A Press is paying reporters and photographers to cover the news for an Spokesman-owned, money-making blog.

  Sure it’s legal, and Mike no doubt knew that, but I suspect he was compelled to make the request anyway.

  Is it a good move? Who knows? It’s a whole new landscape out there for Journalism these days… so I guess if you were ever going to defy convential wisdom, this would be one of the btter times to do that…

  Summary: I’m not defending the move — just the messenger, DFO.

• 

  Bent on March 05 at 2:44 p.m.

  Sheesh, I should actually use the preview button to actually preview my comments…

  Look at those typos, but you get the drift anyway…

• 

  Joker on March 05 at 2:54 p.m.

  I have alternative theory as to why Mr. Patrick would suddenly call and make this demand.

  A day or two ago, DFO wrote about Bob Templin and how he was betrayed by his Padawan apprentice Jerry Jaeger. That was a highly personal footnote to the Hagadone empire history.

  I know nothing of how Hagadone built his business, but this kind of story being retold was darn interesting. I suspect somebody upstairs read the Templin story and had steam coming out of their ears.

• 

  Kage_Mann on March 05 at 3:03 p.m.

  That was just last night when the templin thing came out and It might be one reason.

  Anyway, I wouldn’t pay any newspaper for an online subscription.I’d just as well start my own website, to blog at.

• 

  Aliasjax on March 05 at 3:43 p.m.

  Bent is so right on this one…Mike is a man of integrity…he is, imo, making a mistake to limit links. Protectionism is the wrong move in a market that demands (and expects) access…I read the Press everyday because it only takes five minutes (or less) to read local stories of interest and it’s free to me…the best hope, imo, for local dailies to succeed is to abandon the AP wire services and start writing intensely local, well-researched reports (as opposed to the formulaic, “this side-that side” official source BS) from a truly editorial perspective that will appeal to a niche readership audience instead of trying to be all things to all and “objective.”

• 

  wheels on March 05 at 3:52 p.m.

  An alternate use for the Cda Press would be a generic offering for Charmin.

• 

  hmoffsuite on March 05 at 3:57 p.m.

  I may have mentioned it here before, but I was one of the shareholders of Western Frontiers when Jerry got the majority to sell out to Duane. That was a good proxy fight for sure. Templin was rather upset and went down the river and built the Templins on the river down there. In doing so, he violated a covenant not to compete and had to pay damages to Hagadone.

• 

  Rosalind on March 05 at 4:04 p.m.

  I have to agree with cantyoureadthesigns re: “secondly, you have no idea how much traffic huckleberries sends to your site via the links.”

  Even the most elementary website statistics programs provide information on link referral.

• 

  Rosalind on March 05 at 4:13 p.m.

  I don’t think it should be a big deal, considering HBO/Dave/Spokesman-lovers always claim that the Spokesman is better than the Press, has more coverage, and always “beats them.” It’s kind of irritating when those kinds of claims are made and then you sit there and consistently link to CDA Press stories (or cry when they don’t want you linking to them).

  You can’t keep biting the hands that feeds you and not expect some repercussions. I imagine if HBO wouldn’t constantly bash the Press (for a lot of the same stuff the Spokesman does), then Mike would support a friendly agreement to link to them. Until then, yes, legally DFO can post links - but it certainly isn’t very respectful.

  This request from Mike Patrick is no surprise. And if HBO readers hate the Press so much, why does anybody care?

• 

  Kage_Mann on March 05 at 4:19 p.m.

  “I may have mentioned it here before, but I was one of the shareholders of Western Frontiers when Jerry got the majority to sell out to Duane”.hmoffsuite on March 05 at 3:57 p.m.

  Yea, Jerrys a traitor and had his father not died and left Jerry to his devices, templin would still be there.I personally liked the North Shore and had some good times there, as did many other residents of CDA.Now, I hardly ever go down to the CDA Resort.

• 

  Kage_Mann on March 05 at 4:22 p.m.

  Rosalind, I agree.

• 

  hmoffsuite on March 05 at 4:30 p.m.

  Kage. We all liked the North Shore. And, Templins too. But, Templin was doing a bunch of stuff without discussing with the shareholders and board members and was running the corporation poorly. But, you are right. It was Jaeger who engineered the deal with Hagadone to buy everyone out.

• 

  Fishwife on March 05 at 5:14 p.m.

  Actually, the CDA Press turns a profit. I wouldn’t be too hasty to criticize Mr. Patrick. It’s all business, correct?

• 

  eagleeye on March 05 at 5:21 p.m.

  Hmoffsuite,
  You need a brush up on your CdA history. It is true that Templin violated his non compete agreement with Hagadone but it was not because of his building the new resort in Post Falls because Post Falls was excluded from the agreement. He violated the agreement due to his involvement with Al Bowen on the development of the Osprey Restaurant building which currently houses the Univ of Idaho offices.

• 

  hmoffsuite on March 05 at 5:26 p.m.

  eagleeye. If that is a fact, and I accept it that it is, then I stand corrected.

• 

  eagleeye on March 05 at 5:35 p.m.

  The fight for control of the company was a classic! I am sure you have some stories on it, Suite, if you were on the inside.
  And I am also sure you had a little capital gain! I wonder if Obama can make that capital gain tax increase retroactive? :)

• 

  hmoffsuite on March 05 at 5:38 p.m.

  eagle >> ” I wonder if Obama can make that capital gain tax increase retroactive?”

  I’m sure he will try. :~)

• 

  Kage_Mann on March 05 at 5:49 p.m.

  Can anyone imagine the gall of Mr.H and Jerry: ‘First, I’m going to take over your company Bob.Then I’m going to make you sign an agreement so you can’t compete with us in CDA.I don’t care if you’ve served the community well since 1946, it’s our town now and that’s all there is to it’.

  Whata bunch of baloney.

  I worked on the ole Osprey in early 1984, when I was young.

• 

  eagleeye on March 05 at 5:55 p.m.

  Kage,
  Templin was paid very well for his shares as well as he was paid for a non compete agreement. It is all part of the deal.
  As Suite mentioned there were alot of behind the scenes issues.

• 

  Kage_Mann on March 05 at 6:09 p.m.

  eagleeye, do you really think that the money healed any of the wounds, from the hostile takeover of his company. I think it still affects Mr.Templin alittle.

• 

  eagleeye on March 05 at 6:23 p.m.

  Didnt say anything about wounds, Kage. I am talking about dollars and deals. Non competes come with a price tag. So Templin was given money not to compete in an area and he violated it.

• 

  Stickman on March 05 at 8:27 p.m.

  I was hopng Mr. Patrick would come by for a visit and a stick sometime, as he stated once. It would be a pleasure, though I haven’t a clue who he is.

• 

  Escapee on March 05 at 8:53 p.m.

  The CDA Press is being really petty here. There’s room enough for everyone. Besides, I’m sure the Press has benefited from Huckleberries referrals. This directive sounds like something which originated in the top floor of that Brown wooden building next to the CDA Resort.

• 

  leisure on March 05 at 9:16 p.m.

  Please correct me if I transgress, but I think most longstanding local natives will agree that the citizens of Coeur d’Alene were a lot happier when Bob Templin and Jerald J. Jaeger ran the North Shore Hotel, and anyone in the community could afford 2 for 1 drinks on a Friday night at Cloud Nine along with a nice dinner. Toss in the original Bill Reagan (JJJ’s real “father”) and the locals were a pretty happy bunch. How many praises have the locals sung to Duane’s acquisition of Jerald J. Jaeger as a person, and the north shore of lake Coeur d’Alene as a piece of property since the Coeur d’Alene Resort opened for business in 1986? Very few by my count…any comments, Jerry? Do you “enjoy” being a wholly owned subsidiary of Duane at this stage of your life and career? Do you like being a corporate asset and pawn in Duane’s game? Wasn’t it nice to be able to sit down for coffee with Don Oliver, Craig Kosonen, Bill Reagan, and a host of others back in the earlier days? Yes, I understand, Jerry, now you can fly to Palm Springs to stay in the “Big House” anytime, but do you rememember those days when your own great spirit flew you without the plane? That’s the Jerry I remember!

• 

  Sam on March 05 at 9:38 p.m.

  baaaa hahahaha.

  Holy wow. This is the funniest thing I’ve seen all day. I actually understand where Bent and Joe are coming from, since they have insider knowledge, but it’s disappointing that Mike Patrick even has to deliver a message that isn’t at all defensible in terms of how copyright, fair use and the Internet work together.

  I know the the Press is a pretty small paper, but seriously, go to any current seminar right now on Web content (actually, considering the S-R is a NATIONAL leader for the Web … ask anybody … literally … you could simply call them up and learn from them) and try to get some semblance of what this all means.

  I actually think the Press’s site in general is pretty easy to navigate in terms of newspaper Web sites. Partly that’s because they simply don’t have the same type of content a larger newspaper or a larger family of papers offers in terms of simply being an “information” site and not just a newspaper’s online version of their print content.

  DFO, you made the right call. Keep aggregating and having real community discussions (where there is more than just the Group Think Gang of opinions like over there) over here and ditch their photos. Nobody needs’em.

  Some day I hope Hagadone makes the decision to sell that newspaper so the fine staff over there have some better independence. Only based on what I know from all of the people I’ve met who work there, it seems like theyr’e a fantastic bunch working extremely hard (the sort of “do more with less model” that the S-R is actually FINALLY experiencing itself) who are simply held back by the Dark Lords Above.

• 

  Sam on March 05 at 9:43 p.m.

  P.S. ~ Everyone calling this petty. I really don’t think that’s it. It’s just a business decision. And personally I believe it’s a very, very shortsighted and misguided one.

  Look at other newspapers trying to fight for their content right now … it includes The New York Times, which has been dying for years, losing massive revenue and subscribes. They are panicked and have no clue what to do, so they begin attacking everyone.

  The Associated Press is doing the same thing. They’re going after anyone and everyone linking to perhaps too much of their content. And the AP is losing subscribers (i.e. ~ newspapers they need revenue from to survive as an institution) left and right, too.

  Anyone watching the news business in general should what the Press is trying to do will not only fail in its goal, but it just makes their management look stupid.

  Of course, this is really nothing more than inside baseball, and DFO front paged it because it’s embarrassing to the Press. But it really does serve as a decent conversation for people like us who will chatter on about anything and everything, and there are quite a few journalists here that are on a diverse spectrum of age and experience who can all offer up their thoughts on what this means right along with the average reader, who probably matters even more than we hacks.

  Then again, I fervently believe that the attitude held by the Press is a typical one of veterans in this business, who are the very people slowly killing it to begin with.

  Their next move over there at the Press (and the S-R for that matter) should be to sit down their 20-something staff and ask them how to save their publication and how to boost their online presence.

  And the first thing that every single one of those staff members should know to tell them is to reverse the decision made today. It’s idiotic and old fashioned.

• 

  Transplanted_Texan on March 05 at 9:49 p.m.

  DFO - good on ya for linking anyway! Google News links to all news sites, but if they’re pay-only it adds “subscription required.” That’s a good way to do it, I think.

  MP is truly and idiot if he believes a website has the right, legal or otherwise, to forbid other websites from linking to it. Photos are copyrighted to be sure, and I’ve had that tussle with other bloggers about my own original photos, but links are merely an online way of saying “Hey, d’you hear what so and so said?” and MP’s a fool if he thinks he can control that. The flow of information, especially in this new era, is beyond his personal power, so think his reach extends as far as the minutia of links is perhaps the most ridiculous and laughable thing I’ve seen in a month.

• 

  Transplanted_Texan on March 05 at 9:53 p.m.

  “I don’t believe he’s trying to be petty — not at all. I know Mike Patrick, and he is a gracious man if nothing else… and I’m certain he expected the response he got from DFO.”

  Bent (and Alias) - a fair point and one well taken. But while this may not be petty, it is ignorant. I don’t know MP and I’ll take y’all at y’all’s word that he is gracious and a good man, but he clearly doesn’t understand the Internet.

  Sam - it’s not a “business decision.” Photos aside, the request for no lins is not a decision at all - that’s beyond the Press’ control. To say “People shouldn’t link to us!” is kind of like walking into a coffee shop and yelling at all the patrons “You’re not allowed to talk about the store down the street!” and then walk out. Does anyone really think they’ve got the power to give such edicts?

• 

  Bent on March 05 at 11:07 p.m.

  “Their next move over there at the Press (and the S-R for that matter) should be to sit down their 20-something staff and ask them how to save their publication and how to boost their online presence…” — Sam

  Yes Sam, sure, afterall its the 20-somethings buying the paper…Right?

  Whoever it was above that said said going ultra-local was the key to sucess has pegged it as far as I am concerned.

  Dump the AP (the only thing I agree with with Steve Smith on), and get some local people to tell the story of their town every morning… kind of what’s happening here, but I believe it would be sucessful in print too.

  Zoned editions that localize communities and pass on the big picture stuff could be sucessful. I have a personal theory that local glossy magazines will eventually take over

• 

  Sam on March 05 at 11:45 p.m.

  Bent, that’s just it, papers are a thing of the past. And that’s what the veterans don’t seem to get.

  I wonder how long that battle will continue. Even some baby boomers are ignoring print products at this point.

  So my belief still stands. Get people my age in a room and talk to them about how they want their local news delivered.

  Of course, I suppose it could be considered a different market in Coeur d’Alene where the demographics are different. I suppose I’m thinking on a different scale, for a different environment.

  I agree with local, but most daily newspapers in this country already focus on local and provide great local news and have a tidbit of wire in them.

  Frankly, I find it offensive, even on behalf of the Press, when people think we’re not covering local issues. Because we are.

• 

  Sam on March 05 at 11:47 p.m.

  By the by, Bent, I hate to get into an age issue with you. But please tell me of the last time a veteran in the media field or in online or any technology business did something innovative and then compare it to the new and innovative from people of my generation. You can include Google, MySpace, Facebook, etc. etc.

  My point is that veterans of media and newspapers love to throw around their experience and thoughts, but it seems that newspapers have been dying under your watch. Not mine.

• 

  DFO on March 06 at 12:00 a.m.

  Sam; you don’t think Huckleberries Online is innovative? —
  DFO (59.25 years old)

• 

  cantyoureadthesigns on March 06 at 12:13 a.m.

  “Fishwife on March 05 at 5:14 p.m.

  Actually, the CDA Press turns a profit. I wouldn’t be too hasty to criticize Mr. Patrick. It’s all business, correct?”

  The Press turns a profit, eh?

  And EXACTLY how would anyone know?

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  JBelle on March 06 at 12:29 a.m.

  Saaaaaam! That is so ageist. If I said that you couldn’t possibly comment on the financial viability of such an assertion because you’re too young to understand life without student loan payments and/or a substantial balance in your MMA as a result of lifelong savings habit you’d have my lunch! If I also said that your professional experience is limited as a result of your just barely legal to vote age and therefore you are unable to have a viable opinion about the future of journalism, you’d squeal so loud I could hear you from here!

  Newspapers, autos, banks, retail outlets, insurance, housing of all kinds, just to name a few, are all dying at the moment. If you’re blaming it all on the baby boomers, I’d have to stand back and listen to your argument because to tell you the truth, I don’t think we havecome through on many fronts. But if you also said that we can’t possible participate in a solution and/or strategies for the future because we just aren’t young enough, well then, it would be very hard to take you seriously. That would be a pinnacle of arrogance even for you. Hypothetically speaking, of course.

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  Sam on March 06 at 7:48 a.m.

  Bah everyone here has gone after me about age since the beginning of the blog, so I think it’s high time I get to turn it around on all of you. ;)

  DFO - there are, of course, rules to the exception, but I think even you can acknowledge that the veterans in this business aren’t necessarily able to help themselves out of the slump we’re in without innovation from us young turks.

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  Sam on March 06 at 8:04 a.m.

  Follow-up question: How old is Ryan, the person who helped develop this Web site?

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  Sam on March 06 at 8:05 a.m.

  Jbelle, I appreciate your comment. To be clear, what I’m saying is that the young people shouldn’t be ignored and that it should be a team effort with n00b journalists combined with veterans to figure out a solution. As it is now, the young ones are being ignored, and that ain’t right. In fact, I think it’s just plain stupid.

  That’s all I’m saying.

  And everything thing you said above has already been said about me here before. ;)

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  Arch_Druid on March 06 at 9:03 a.m.

  I didn’t “link” a CDA Press article, I just copied a tad and sourced. In the above polling thread about what one does with federal stimulus bucks. And figured the Press article on what Kootenai County in particular is doing with it answered that polling question better than I had. Given the coincidence of the article with the polling questions, just had to do it. :)

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  Aliasjax on March 06 at 9:48 a.m.

  “Frankly, I find it offensive, even on behalf of the Press, when people think we’re not covering local issues. Because we are.”

  - Sam

  It’s not that local rags aren’t covering local news, Sam, it’s how they cover them that’s troubling…stories are covered the same way they were covered 10, 20, 30 years ago…AP style, “official” sources, get a quote, find an opposing viewpoint, print. Stories are “manufactured” according to a system of news production akin to the way McDonald’s makes Big Macs, instead of “told.” But to “tell” stories reporters need time to research and construct a narrative - nobody’s reading papers much anymore because they’re unreadable, not because they’re printed on paper.

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  Sam on March 06 at 9:55 a.m.

  Alias - a fantastic view point and I agree with you in many ways. What i’d give to have more time for some of the things I’m working on.

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