Congratulations, dear reader, you are trendy: You are reading the most recent news outlet to be highlighted in The Seattle Times’ Voices of the Free Press national newsletter. The newsletter collects what’s going on with the local news ecosystem in the nation.
Columnist Brier Dudley talked to co-founder Walter Neary as well as to Ben Sclair, whose The Suburban Times was the inspiration for this site. Here’s what Brier had to say:
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 News site debuts in Pierce County but no reporters yet A news website just launched in Pierce County but it doesn’t plan to do original reporting, at least for the time being. The Cascadian will operate as an online bulletin board for the county’s west side, including communities south of Tacoma. People and organizations may share news and announcements on the site at no charge. It’s modeled on The Suburban Times, a news site that closed Oct. 7 after more than 20 years. It was a side project of Ben Sclair, an aviation magazine publisher whose family used to publish a Lakewood-based newspaper with the same name. “We’d definitely like to get to the point where we are generating reports of government actions and editorial direction,” said Walter Neary, co-founder of The Cascadian. “Right now, it’s empowering the community — civic education.” Neary worked at another now-defunct local paper, The Lakewood Journal, and even helped its parent company, Sound Publishing, launch a paper in University Place in the 1990s. He was later an editor at The Olympian before starting a career in public relations. Now retired, Neary started The Cascadian with Phil Lindholm, a mediator and podcaster recently elected to the Lakewood City Council. The Cascadian is edited by Neary and Steve Dunkelberger, another veteran of The Lakewood Journal, with help from Neary’s family. These sites help fill the information void created when places lose their local newspapers and regional dailies shrink and cut coverage of suburbs and smaller communities. I wish the sites were doing accountability journalism and not just posting whatever comes over the transom. But they are better than social media, because they have some human curation and standards. They’re also designed so it’s easier to find and refer to articles, Neary noted. And they provide further evidence that people still want local news, creating opportunities for civic-minded entrepreneurs. The Suburban Times had around 3,100 subscribers to a newsletter emailed Mondays through Saturdays. Its website attracted 50,000 to 70,000 visitors per month, Sclair said. “I’d hear from people saying ‘I really appreciate The Suburban Times, it’s the first thing I read in the morning,’ ” he said. Sclair considered raising funds through advertising or donations to hire a reporter for a year “just to test it to see what could be done.” He was too busy, though, with his “day job” publishing General Aviation News. “There is an appetite for journalism, true journalism, but it’s a struggle,” he said. Sclair gave The Cascadian a parting gift. A farewell post linked to the site and helped it launch with 1,000 subscribers, Neary said.\ Neary said it cost around $6,000 to launch The Cascadian. It will operate as a nonprofit. It’s aiming to generate revenue initially through donations and sponsorships. “It would be nice to have something that’s a sustainable model,” he said. “What that looks like, we’ll figure it out.” Just like everyone else in the news business nowadays. OK Walter here again: I’ve been reading Brier’s reports for years about how scrappy people and entrepreneurial nonprofits have been trying to replace traditional local news media. It was because I read his column for so long that I knew something like The Cascadian might be possible. So it means a lot to see us here. It means a lot. By the way, if you’d like to keep track of a lot going on around the nation to try to preserve local news gathering, you can subscribe to Voices for the Free Press here: https://www.seattletimes.com/newsletters (Since the name starts with V, you have to scroll down toward the end of the list) |
Comments
6 responses
Isn’t it illegal to republish articles from other newspapers in full? Or maybe you got permission?
This is from a public newsletter – you can subscribe at https://www.seattletimes.com/newsletters/
And shouldn’t Mr. Lindholm be described as a “real estate speculator” (rather than volunteer “podcaster” and beginner mediator?) to reflect reality better? Won’t this publication be the voice of the real estate interests that financed his campaign for Lakewood City Council seat so generously?
It’s your voice in addition to everyone else’s voice, Martin – the link to share a post is here or on top of the page https://thecascadian.com/share-your-story/
Walter,
It sounds like The Cascadian is a 501(C)3 tax deductible organization. How does one make a donation?
Do you and I meet in a dark alley as I slip you a plain brown paper bag with a donation hidden inside?
Please forgive me for my bad language arts. I ain’t no Bill Gates or Warren BuffetI, but I could make a small retired-guy-on-a-fixed-income size donation.
Thanks to all who made the $6,000 downstroke to launch The Cascadian.
Joseph Boyle – A Lakewood Supporter 51 Years
lol I’m game for the dark alley (as long as you are there) anytime or lookie here https://thecascadian.com/support/