My Oh My! – Saturday night (May 21st) at Safeco Field, The B-Town Blog team hit a major home run when it was named ‘Best Hyperlocal Website’ by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) in their annual awards that covers Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho and Montana.

“We received more than 2,500 entries from dozens of media organizations throughout the region which were then reviewed and rated by out-of-state judges,” reads the SPJ website. “Congratulations to all of our 2010 SPJ award winners and to the editorial, design and production teams that helped make their work possible!”

This is a huge honor for everyone involved with The B-Town Blog, which was started as a hobby by Founder/Publisher/Editor Scott Schaefer in Dec., 2007, then turned into a full-time business in 2008.

Now, we’ve been awarded the top prize in our category for the entire Pacific Northwest by our journalist peers, and we are humbled by this honor.

Since this is an award for the entire team, some serious shout-outs are required now to everyone who works very hard to make this site the ‘best,’ including:

• Michael Brunk, Photographer/Technical Guru
• *Ralph Nichols, Senior Writer (*also a 3rd place winner in Business Reporting for his series on Burien Town Square!)
• Janet Grella, Sales Diva
• Mark Neuman, Writer/Marketing
• Bart Bryan, Sales Dude/Video Host
• Philip Benais, Intern, Big Picture High School
• Bryan Charles, Intern, Big Picture High School
• Nicholas Johnson, Reporter/Photographer
• Kristen Kerns, Sales
• Lisa Bosques, Sales
• Jack Mayne, Reporter
• Rachel M. Lusby, Writer
• Gina Bourdage, Reporter/Designer
• Francis Zera, Photographer
• Joy Steele (aka “Missed Congeniality”), Humor Columnist
• Shawn Underwood, Humor Columnist
• Theresa Frasch, Sales
• Many others!

Over 200 awards were handed out Saturday night in a ceremony hosted by Jerry Brewer of The Seattle Times and Jen Mueller of Root Sports (download a PDF of all winners here).

Here’s a Michael Brunk pic of the big screen at Safeco Field when we were announced as winners:

About the SPJ
Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, the Society of Professional Journalists is dedicated to the perpetuation of a free press as the cornerstone of our nation and our liberty. To ensure that the concept of self-government outlined by the U.S. Constitution remains a reality into future centuries, the American people must be well informed in order to make decisions regarding their lives, and their local and national communities. It is the role of journalists to provide this information in an accurate, comprehensive, timely and understandable manner.

Michael Brunk, B-Town Blog Photographer

by Greg Wright

I’ve known Michael Brunk a long time, and he’s a man of many talents: Boeing technology guru, actor, director, webmaster… and photographer.

For several years now, he’s been keeping a pretty low profile as one of the key figures behind the B-Town Blog and its family of online publications, including our own SeaTac Blog. In addition to providing all the webmastering for the blogs, he’s also the organization’s primary photojournalist. If you’ve seen photos of Three Tree Point fireworks, Link light rail, or dazzling Des Moines and Burien sunsets on the blogs… well, that’s Michael’s stuff.

Michael had his first public exhibition as part of the Poverty Bay Art Festival in Des Moines last September, and this spring he has become one of the founding members of Tyee Photography Alliance, a group of like-minded South Enders providing photographic services for the community.  He’ll also be conducting classes at the Burien Community Center starting this June!

If you’d like to see Michael’s work in person, the next chance will be Mother’s Day weekend, May 7 and 8.  From 10 AM to 5 PM, Tyee Photography Alliance will have a booth at PowellsWood on Dash Point Road. That Saturday, May 7 at 11 AM, Michael will be presenting a talk entitled “Nature Photography: Right Place, Right Time.”

I ran a few comments and questions by Michael earlier this week.

GW: I imagine that when you’re shooting for art’s sake, or for your own pure enjoyment, you prepare somewhat differently than when you’re on a photojournalism assignment.

Michael: Assignments are nearly always very schedule-driven. An event is happening at a certain place at a certain time and I have to be there to get the shot. For me that means getting there early so I can get the “lay of the land” and talk to people so I know how the event is going to flow and what I need to do to be in the best position to shoot the photos I want to tell the story.

Shooting for pleasure can be much more organic and relaxed. I’ll sometimes throw the gear in the car and head out without a specific destination in mind.

GW: I recently took my first photography class, and it seemed like the instructor’s whole point was, “I’m not really trying to teach you how to use your camera. I’m just trying to get you to slow down.” It’s almost like photography is a zen-like experience.

Self-Portrait at Salmon Creek Park

Michael: I would say, “It depends.” If you’re shooting the news, slowing down isn’t typically an option. You’re capturing an event as it unfolds and you sometimes have just a moment in time to get the image you want. Still, it can be zen-like in that you really have to focus on what you’re doing and push everything else out of your mind. You’re often juggling a lot of variables to make the photo happen and you can’t afford to be distracted.

Shooting anything else, I would agree that slowing down is a good thing. The best photographers don’t just capture random images, they create the photo. That means they take time to visualize what they want before they press the shutter release.

GW: The subtitle of your talk at PowellsWood on Mother’s Day weekend is “Right Place, Right Time.” How much of that is hurry up and wait, how much sheer patience, and how much of that is planning?

Michael: As I already mentioned, photography in one sense is making the image you want happen. That’s not a random process. I shoot a lot of landscapes and the variables involved require a lot of forethought. What’s the weather going to do? Where’s the sun in the sky and which direction is the light in the scene I want to shoot? Shooting around the water here you have to take the tides into account.

Even with planning, there are a lot of elements out of your control. Wind is often an issue here in the Northwest, so if you’re shooting outside you may need to wait for the brief lull to take the photo. Wildlife photography definitely requires patience. You can be in the right place, and have great light and weather but animals don’t always cooperate!

GW: You’re going to be teaching an introductory photography class at the Burien Community Center. What’s going to be your primary goal there?

Michael: The Burien class is going to focus on fundamentals of photography. The goal will be to help students take their first steps from being a person with a camera to being a photographer.

The first session will be in the classroom at the Community Center where we’ll be exploring composition techniques to make photos instead of taking snapshots. In the second session a week later we’ll visit Seahurst Park to put what we learned into practice.

GW: What are some of the funnest photo ops you’ve had with The B-Town Blog?

Michael: For me, there were two main draws to working with The B-Town Blog. The first was the opportunity to get involved with the community and meet new people. In that sense, just about every photo op is fun.

The second was the ability to see things and shoot photos that I wouldn’t otherwise be have access to. Examples of those have been shooting runway construction at SeaTac Airport with airplanes landing and taking off just yards away, wading through local creeks in search of spawning salmon with Dennis Clark, and photographing Town Square from atop a ferris wheel.

GW: Where are some your favorite places to shoot just for fun in the Burien, Des Moines, and SeaTac vicinity?

Michael: Anyone that has seen my photos knows that I spend a lot of time at Seahurst Park in Burien, but I’m also a big fan of Salmon Creek Park. Mathison Park is also an interesting place to visit.

In Des Moines I seem to spend a lot of time on and around the fishing pier. I really like the variety of images you can find down at the Marina. And of course, Beach Park and the trail is a beautiful spot.

I don’t spend as much time in SeaTac–though I keep meaning to do something about that–but I do love airplanes and often visit the little park on South 146th Street when they’re landing to the south to shoot photos. I don’t even know if this spot has a name; it’s not much more than a small parking lot, a big grassy field and a large water tank.

At the Pier in Des Moines

The Highline School District announced Tuesday (March 29) that students from Aviation High School “will become reporters, photojournalists, content creators, editors, and publishers of a multimedia news source, thanks to a technology grant from the Qwest Foundation.”

Aviation Teacher Jacob Savishinsky was awarded a $10,000 grant for his project, which has students doing investigative journalism and web-based publishing. The project will use the toolkit of today’s publishing industry — Web 2.0 cloud-based software and storage.

Industry professionals will train students to build a secure, cloud-based production system and distribution network. Young journalists will learn first-hand about investigative research, journalistic ethics, story creation, and community interaction with the news.

Workshops and mentoring on good business practices and organizational management are part of the project. To ensure that the program sustains itself for years to come, the grant includes development of a training program for new students.

Savishinsky is one of only nine teachers in the state to win the grant.

The Qwest Foundation funds the competitive Teachers & Technology grant program to recognize K-12 educators who are creative technology integrators.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: On behalf of The B-Town Blog, we welcome these students to the exciting world of internet publishing. We've been doing it for over three years now, and we find it's a fun and very fulfilling gig, but also one that requires diligence, intelligence and the ability to report news using established journalistic ethics and techniques.

Our Advice, delivered in a style similar to a classic scene from Mike Nichols' "The Graduate":

B-Town Blog: I want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Aviation HS: Yes, sir.
B-Town Blog: Are you listening?
Aviation HS: Yes, I am.
B-Town Blog: WordPress.
Aviation HS: Just how do you mean that, sir?

We wish them the best, and look forward to seeing their work!]

We’d like to welcome our newest Intern to The B-Town Blog, Philip Benais, a 16-year old student at Big Picture High School in SeaTac.

Philip will be working as a Writer, Reporter, Reviewer and more, focusing mostly on words.

Rather than tell you about the newest member of our team, we thought it’d be more interesting to let him introduce himself in his own words:

Who Is Philip Benais?

No doubt many of you are asking yourself that exact question, and on my more existential days I find myself asking it too.

To put it simply, I’m a 16-year old like no other; where most kids are interested in the latest musical trend or fashion statement, I keep it simple with my Bruce Campbell inspired sense of dress, my biting sense of humor and my love for all things writing. Ever since I could hold a pen, I’ve had a dream to be a writer. Naturally with age things developed and I started to take more interest in reporting and reviewing, things that I’ve always loved but felt too timid to try for myself.

Now, thanks to Big Picture High School, the wonderful Mr. Scott Schaefer and a few extra years on my belt I’m here doing what I’ve wanted to: reporting the things that need to be reported on.

In the months to come you’ll see a lot from me, some may be better than others, but one thing I can guarantee is that I’ll always be working with a smile and I’ll be telling you all only the truth; let’s face it, in a world full of people that might be full of crap, isn’t it refreshing to read something by someone who doesn’t take any crap?

According to the school’s website:

Highline Big Picture High School opened in 2005 and now has 125 students in 9th through 12th grades. Students refer to our school as a family. We are part of a growing network of over seventy innovative small schools around the country and internationally. At the core of our approach is developing close relationships with students and families, helping students identify what they are passionate about, and then harnessing this motivation to drive rigorous learning connected to real experiences in adult workplaces.

At Big Picture we believe we are doing our best work when each student is an active participant in his or her education, when his or her course of study is personalized by teachers, parents and mentors who know him or her well, and when school-based learning is blended with outside experiences such as internships that connect the learning to the real world beyond school. By these means we help students take responsibility for their own learning and prepare for success in college and beyond.

“That’s why we’ll follow the example of places like the Met Center in Rhode Island [the original Big Picture school] that give students that individual attention, while also preparing them through real-world, hands-on training for the possibility of succeeding in a career.”
Barack Obama, February, 2010
Address to U.S. Chamber of Commerce

You’ll be reading more of Philip’s work here on The B-Town Blog, including reviews like the one he did last week about the Hi-Liners’ “Les Miserables Student Edition,” which you can read here.

This week, our decision to “take the pledge” to the TAO of Journalism came to fruition, and we’d like our Readers to know about it.

The “TAO of Journalism” is, quite simply, a “promise to your audience that you will be Transparent about who you are, Accountable for your mistakes, and Open to other points of view.”

Here’s how this concept originated:

At a Journalism That Matters conference in Washington, D.C., in 2008, John Hamer of the Washington News Council was thinking about how journalists demand that everyone they cover be transparent, accountable and open — but what about journalists themselves? Isn’t it a two-way street? He realized those three words spelled “TAO” and proposed a breakout session on the “TAO of Journalism.” About two dozen conference attendees showed up to discuss the idea and help refine it.

In 2009, at another Journalism That Matters gathering at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, Hamer floated the idea again and convened another breakout session. Several attendees came and talked it over — including Tom Stites of The Banyan Project, who encouraged Hamer to pursue it.

At a third Journalism That Matters event at the University of Washington in Seattle in January 2010 (Editor’s Note: this is where we first met John and learned of this concept), the “TAO of Journalism” was informally launched. Several attendees took the “TAO pledge” and/or bought T-shirts displaying a TAO logo. Others signed up at a Society of Professional Journalists convention in Seattle in April 2010.

We have been transparent in our web traffic/statistics reporting since July 2009 (read about that here), and now we will do our best to be transparent in other areas, especially those pertaining to our journalistic ethics.

We now proudly publish the pledge we took for not only The B-Town Blog, but for our five sister blogs as well:

Transparent
We will fully disclose who we are, our journalistic mission and our guiding principles. We will post information on our background and expertise, including education and experience. We will list advertisers, donors, grants, and any other payments that support our work. If affiliated with a political party or special-interest group, we will disclose that. If lobbying for any particular legislation or regulation, we will disclose that. If we are being paid to promote a product or cause, we will disclose that. If other factors could be seen as potential conflicts of interest, we will disclose them. (NOTE: The principle of transparency does not apply to confidential sources, who may still be protected.)

Accountable
If we get any facts wrong, we will admit that promptly and publicly. We will post/publish/print/podcast/broadcast a correction or at least a clarification. We will fully explain what happened to cause the error or mistake. We will do a follow-up story if that is appropriate, putting the original material in better context. We will apologize and promise to be more careful next time. We will show a little humility.

Open
If there are credible challenges to our point of view or simply differences of opinion, we will be open to contrary positions. We will give the other side(s) opportunity and space to express their views and engage in open public dialogue through comments or other means. If we are primarily engaged in opinion and commentary, rather than news reporting, we will make that clear – while inviting others to express their opinions through comment and feedback means.

We do not necessarily agree to abide by any particular code of journalism ethics or professional standards, although we may choose to do so. If we do, we will declare that publicly. If we don’t, we will declare that as well. We understand that this will not be enforced by any outside organized group. It will be overseen by everyone on the Internet who wants to see high standards of transparency, accountability and openness in journalism – through whatever media platform.

We understand that if someone using the “TAO Seal” starts violating its basic principles, they will be admonished, criticized, reprimanded and embarrassed in public through the awesome power of the Internet. Call it “crowdsourcing” ethics and accuracy. In summary, we believe that Transparency, Accountability and Openness are keys to our personal credibility and public trust.

So…what the heck does this mean to our Readers?

• It means that you can rest assured that if we have a bias or agenda, we’ll do our best to openly disclose it (see an example from April here, when Editor Scott Schaefer revealed his own union bias in a story about the Teamsters vs. Waste Management).
• If we make a mistake, we’ll do our best to correct it.
• And, as we’ve showed in the past by allowing anonymous Comments, we’ll continue to allow contrary points of view, as long as they’re not libelous, or contain naughty words.

by Scott Schaefer

Recently the B-Town Blog’s business model was soundly endorsed by Seattle’s KOMO/Fisher Broadcasting, when they launched numerous “local blogs” of their own.

We, along with other community news providers (read what fellow local blog CapitolHillSeattle.com had to say about their experience with them here, or what CentralDistrictNews.com said here) enjoyed for a while KOMO’s attempts at “local journalism,” which ofentimes has consisted of the apparent copying of our stories (we know this because their IP addresses are traceable, we know they subscribe to our RSS feed, and we’ve read their nearly-identical stories, many of which were posted shortly after we posted ours) and even possibly using our graphics, then posting Burien-related news as “their own.”

But we’re not all that upset about our stories getting copied (nobody “owns” the news) – this happens all the time online, and heck, we’ve even gotten leads from other sources ourselves. All we request is simple attribution and a link, which we try to give every time we use an external news source. It’s just common courtesy, and is actually good for both parties.

No, what takes the cake regarding KOMO happened Tuesday, Sept. 15th, when we received the following email from a “Derek Smathers“:

Name: Derek Smathers

Email: kcjn101@yahoo.com

Subject: The look at B-town is b-rate!

Message: Geez-Reading your blog is like reading the yellow pages. Could you put a few more ads in there? At least all I have to do is move on, no finding it clogging my porch or having to lug it to the recycle bin.

News I need. Junk ads I don’t!

IP: 208.73.29.10
HOST: mail2.fsci.com

Seems Derek forgot one little thing – when you email a website, your IP address is recorded. A simple IP Address lookup of 208.73.29.10 revealed that good ol’ Derek actually sent this directly from within Fisher Broadcasting:

Now we won’t get into any kind of flame war with Derek, since it clearly wouldn’t be fair, but we would like to point out one thing to KOMO, as well as our Readers and Advertisers:

WE DON’T CONSIDER OUR ADVERTISERS AS “JUNK ADS”!

I’m sure that many of our Advertisers are already very familiar with KOMO’s practices – since KOMO apparently posted numerous placeholder/make-believe ads WITHOUT EVEN ASKING THE BUSINESSES USED IN THE ADS, then called them to “sell” them the very placeholder ad(s) they had already posted – not to mention calling BTB Advertisers directly and asking them to cancel their accounts with us and go with them.

Now comes this ill-advised email from within Fisher/KOMO, telling us that our website is full of “junk ads,” which insults the very businesses they want to do business with!

Does this Escher-esque irony crack anyone else up as much as it does me?

[EDITOR'S NOTE: On March 17, 2009, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer published its final print edition, completing a more than 145-year run. Its online presence continues. We at The B-Town Blog, while excited about the future of neighborhood blogs such as ours, lament the folding of great US newspapers, particularly those with such rich histories and stellar legacies as the P-I.

Scott Schaefer and Mark Neuman, of the B-Town Blog, worked together on their high school newspaper, The West Seattle High Chinook, a few decades back. They were fortunate enough to have as their advisor and journalism teacher a lady who truly is one of the very best in the state of Washington, Miss Dorothea Mootafes, known a little better as Dorothy, and affectionately as Miss Moo. Miss Moo has been retired from the Seattle School District for over twenty-five years, lives in the Roosevelt area of Seattle and is quite active in her church and various teacher organizations.

We recently asked her to reflect on the passing of the P-I, and let us in on her P-I memories.

This four-part Sunday series, which concludes today, began with Miss Moo recalling taking her students to the P-I building on Sixth and Wall Street in the mid 1970s.

“In the lobby were the words of Thomas Jefferson which continue to imply what the role of the newspaper should be in a free society:

‘If it were left to me to decide whether to have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.’”]

Part Four:
by Dorothea Mootafes

When Kennedy was nominated, the Thursday July 14, 1960, P-I read “It’s Kennedy” and the front page included one of Jim Bishop’s stories in his traditional writing format, “The Day Kennedy Was Nominated.”

Westbrook Pegler was still writing his opinion column but better balanced by “On The Line” with Bob Considine, one of Drew Pearson’s “Washington Merry Go Round” columns and David Sentner of the Hearst Headline Service with “Convention Window.”

The November 10, 1960 election issue had a full-page photo of the young president-elect whose election margin was described as the “Tightest in Nearly Half A Century.” Frank Conniff of the Hearst Headline Services gave his observations on Kennedy.

Kennedy’s inauguration was the Hearst Headline Service story on January 21, 1961. His now famous words were at the top the page:

“Let every nation know, whether it wish us good or ill, that we will pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend or oppose any foe in order to assure the survival of liberty.”

The P-I of November 8, 1980 proclaimed the “Reagan Landslide.” Editorial columnists that day included Jack Anderson and Flora Lewis. OP Ed writers were Russell Baker, William Safire, and T. D. Allman of The New York Times. A David Horsey cartoon appeared, a congratulations to the new President.

Many Horsey cartoons followed including two Pulitzer Prize winners in 1999 and 2003. I recall when Horsey was an outstanding staff member of the excellent Ingraham High School Cascade.

These reflections of The Seattle Post-Intelligencer are becoming longer than the final edition of the P-I a few weeks ago. In conclusion I’ll borrow some words of the P-I headline on Wednesday, October 18, 1995, referring to the “Refuse to Lose” season of the Seattle Mariners. Etched in the minds of every Seattle fan was a front page photo of a compassionate Alex Rodriguez consoling a weeping Joey Cora. “Thanks for the Ride, M’s,” the banner headline read. We have been provided with a lifetime of P-I editorials, news stories, and features, not to mention comic strips which live In our memories, at least one of which fortunately has moved on to The Seattle Times (Blondie). There are those hoping Dennis the Menace also will find a home there. For all of the years of information, entertainment, and thought, to The P-I -“thanks for the ride.”

Even more important than the pleasure and thought The P-I and other vanishing newspapers have brought us are these facts:

• Up to the present, even other media tell us, newspapers are still responsible for 65 per cent of the news.
• A free press is a constraint on those who would impose their will on an uninformed public.
• When The P-I folded, it was said that Tim Eyman, the perennial initiative writer, would dance on The P-I’s grave. There would be one less critic of his over-zealous initiatives.
• Just before he died, Peter Jennings reported on a survey of young people which showed a large number thought a newspaper should send its stories to the government for approval before printing them. Every high school journalist would cringe at that idea of prior review!

Although history tells us that Thomas Jefferson read few newspapers himself after eight years of being criticized by them, in the end the saddest part about losing The P-I and all the other newspapers which have folded already or will soon stop publication is we may soon be left with the society the third president rejected: a government without newspapers.

- 30 -

[EDITOR'S NOTE: On March 17, 2009, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer published its final print edition, completing a more than 145-year run. Its online presence continues. We at The B-Town Blog, while excited about the future of neighborhood blogs such as ours, lament the folding of great US newspapers, particularly those with such rich histories and stellar legacies as the P-I.

Scott Schaefer and Mark Neuman, of the B-Town Blog, worked together on their high school newspaper, The West Seattle High Chinook, a few decades back. They were fortunate enough to have as their advisor and journalism teacher a lady who truly is one of the very best in the state of Washington, Miss Dorothea Mootafes, known a little better as Dorothy, and affectionately as Miss Moo. Miss Moo has been retired from the Seattle School District for over twenty-five years, lives in the Roosevelt area of Seattle and is quite active in her church and various teacher organizations.

We recently asked her to reflect on the passing of the P-I, and let us in on her P-I memories. Today we continue a four-part Sunday series by Miss Moo.]

by Dorothea Mootafes

Some columnists are associated with presidents. I always thought of Marianne Means as beginning with John F. Kennedy, but she actually wrote for 50 years for the Hearst newspapers from Harry Truman to George W. Bush. On October 5, 2008, in her farewell column, she wrote:

“It’s a new world, for someone else to figure out. So I bid you fine farewell, and I will miss you all terribly particularly my great mentors at the Hearst newspapers.”

Marianne Means was among the first women whose opinion columns appeared in The P-I. Maureen Dowd, Helen Thomas, Ruth Montgomery, Marcia Freeman, and Mary McGrory were among the others.

Men expressing their thoughts through the years in The P-I have been many: Frank Conniff, Jack Anderson, Shelby Scates. Jack DeYonge, George Will, Fendell Yerxa, Drew Pearson, Westbrook Pegler, Fulton Lewis, Jr., Jack McCoy, David Horsey, Jack Hopkins, James Reston, Paul O’Connor, Richard E. Thompson, Patrick J. Buchanan, Jack Douglas, William Safire, Russell Baker, Charles Dunsire, O. Casey Corr, Charles Sykes, Dan Coughlin, Bob Considine, Charles Osgood, Bill Prochnau, Joel Connelly, Sam Angeloff, George Dixon.

For this article of remembrance, I entered my basement with its myriad of yellowing and aromatically scented Post-Intelligencers proclaiming presidential nominations, elections, and inaugurations as well as the rare times when Seattle sports teams triumphed nationally (the Seattle Supersonics in 1979 when they won the NBA Championship and the Seattle Mariners in 1995 when they stopped one game short of playing in the World Series).

The Thursday, May 5, 1977 issue described David Frost’s interview of Richard Nixon which just last year was remembered with the Academy Award nominated movie “Frost-Nixon” based on that historical event.

“Ike New President,” a banner headline on November 5, 1952, announced the nation’s return to rule of the Republican Party for the first time since the Depression, twenty years earlier. The lead editorial that day was a full page in length by the regular editorial width with the title “It’s Ike,” written by William Randolph Hearst, Jr.

In a call for unity, the younger Hearst wrote in one section:

“The Hearst Newspapers and this writer share in the elation of General Eisenhower because we were on his side.” He quoted his father with the following: “The Hearst newspapers are not Democratic in the party sense, nor again are they Republican. In fact, they are not party organs of any kind.”

“The Hearst papers hold as their guiding policy Lincoln’s injunction to support any man when he is right and oppose him when he is wrong.”

“This was Pop’s policy.

“This is our own.”

In the logo of the editorial page that day was a thumbnail photo of the elder Hearst next to his words: “Great issues are never invented or created by political leaders. Real issues make themselves.”

I could not help but remember that the elder Hearst, because of his sensational yellow journalism, was one of those blamed for creating the issue of the Spanish-American War.

The editorial page that day in 1952 included Westbrook Pegler’s “The Republic Is Badly Damaged,” and Fulton Lewis, Jr., “Truman’s Last Order.” The man from Missouri’s flaws were tempered only by Drew Pearson’s “Bitter Campaigns of the Past,” reviewing some of history’s “hottest political campaigns.” The Op Ed page had a soothing effect with E. V. Durling’s “On the Side,” “The Mirror Of Your Mind,” “City Bred Farmer” with Clarence Dirks, and Ph. D. Richmond Barbour with “Parents’ Corner.”

The full page advertisements scattered throughout could have enticed readers in our own era to spend the country out of our recession.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: On March 17, 2009, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer published its final print edition, completing a more than 145-year run. Its online presence continues. We at The B-Town Blog, while excited about the future of neighborhood blogs such as ours, lament the folding of great US newspapers, particularly those with such rich histories and stellar legacies as the P-I.

Scott Schaefer and Mark Neuman, of the B-Town Blog, worked together on their high school newspaper, The West Seattle High Chinook, a few decades back. They were fortunate enough to have as their advisor and journalism teacher a lady who truly is one of the very best in the state of Washington, Miss Dorothea Mootafes, known a little better as Dorothy, and affectionately as Miss Moo. Miss Moo has been retired from the Seattle School District for over twenty-five years, lives in the Roosevelt area of Seattle and is quite active in her church and various teacher organizations.

We recently asked her to reflect on the passing of the P-I, and let us in on her P-I memories. Today we continue a four-part Sunday series by Miss Moo.]

by Dorothea Mootafes

Just as the other P-I departments had something for everyone, sports had a fishing expert, Ken McLeod; a hunting specialist, Cliff Harrison; a bowling enthusiast, Blaine Freer, who also covered skiing at times. The P-I sports also provided public services for young people with fishing derbies, ski schools, and swimming lessons.

John Owen also wrote sports and succeeded Royal Brougham as sports editor. The item I most remember pre-Mariners, was when he wrote that Seattle would never have a major league team until it had a major league hot dog. In his view the hot dogs either were served with a hot dog on a cold bun or a hot bun with a cold dog. A major league hot dog, he wrote, consisted of a hot dog on a hot bun. When he came as a visitor to one of West Seattle’s journalism classes, I told him how much I had enjoyed that. He was not happy with my commentary, preferring that readers remember articles in which he had taken greater pride. I hope the Safeco cuisine suited his taste.

In the 1940s, Leo Lassen, the radio voice of the Seattle Rainiers, covered the team for The P-I. Among the many other P-I sportswriters through the years have been—Angelo Bruscas, Jim Street. Laura Vecsey, Steve Rudman, Jack Smith, Mike Donohoe, Los Angeles columnist Melvin Durslag, Jim Moore, John Levesque, John Hickey, Bill Knight, Joe Mooney, J. Michael Kenyon, Bud Withers, Jack Jarvis, Ellis Conklin, Boyd Smith, Robert Browning, and Art Thiel.

Special features included columns by Emmett Watson under various names including “This Our City.” “Lesser Seattle” was his unofficial campaign to discourage people from migrating to Seattle in order to keep it a more comfortably sized community without the problems of a large city. Douglass Welch with his “Squirrel Cage” provided laughs particularly with his humorous coverage of Park Board meetings. Referring to his wife as “Green Eyes” also evoked a few smiles. Jon Hahn wrote a column on a variety of subjects. “Action,” edited for a time by Maribeth (Bunker) Morris and later Dick Young, gave readers the opportunity to solve problems and frustrations they might have. It was similar to today’s television problem solvers.

Ann Landers not only provided advice for those who asked but also occasionally gave readers more to think about. The Mike Mailway column spanned the years. It consisted of questions and answers, along with interesting facts (Example: Firefighters have the greatest incidence of heart attacks.) Billy Graham provided spiritual advice in answers to questions sent to him by readers. By now bridge enthusiasts must be great players. The lessons were interminable.

The Post-Intelligencer’s “Living Textbook,” as did The Seattle Times’ “Newspaper in the Classroom,” assisted students and teachers in improving their knowledge of newspapers, the English language, history, and geography.

The P-I conducted Christmas Fund Drives for the needy. Articles through the years showing the special needs of the handicapped and the poor touched everyone’s humanity.

Critics helped readers in determining what movies were of value (William Arnold), plays and other events (John Voorhees), the theatre (Joe Adcock)., music (R. M. Campbell).

E. J. Mitchell edited a Saturday religion page and wrote a weekly column covering churches and religious matters. Maggie Hawthorn edited Arts and Entertainment. For some years Louella Parsons provided a column of movie gossip.

Investigative reporters have included Eric Nalder, Hilda Bryant, Steve Militich and Shelby Scates among others. Stub Nelson, Charles Dunsire, Mike Layton, and Maribeth Morris covered politics. Fergus Hoffman wrote business and financial news.

The opinion pages (editorial and Op Ed), have through the years provoked thought and sometimes aroused anger over an editorial or column they carried, but they always provided the opportunity to disagree in letters to the editor. I couldn’t bear Westbrook Pegler and through the years have taken issue with other columnists and with P-I editorials.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: On March 17, 2009, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer published its final print edition, completing a more than 145-year run. Its online presence continues. We at The B-Town Blog, while excited about the future of neighborhood blogs such as ours, lament the folding of great US newspapers, particularly those with such rich histories and stellar legacies as the P-I.

Scott Schaefer and Mark Neuman, of the B-Town Blog, worked together on their high school newspaper, The West Seattle High Chinook, a few decades back. They were fortunate enough to have as their advisor and journalism teacher a lady who truly is one of the very best in the state of Washington, Miss Dorothea Mootafes, known a little better as Dorothy, and affectionately as Miss Moo. Miss Moo has been retired from the Seattle School District for over twenty-five years, lives in the Roosevelt area of Seattle and is quite active in her church and various teacher organizations.

We recently asked her to reflect on the passing of the P-I, and let us in on her P-I memories. And so today we begin a four-part Sunday series by Miss Moo.]

by Dorothea Mootafes

When Mark Neuman asked me to recall what I remembered about The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, he mentioned the visit of West Seattle High School journalism students to the P-I building on Sixth and Wall Street in the mid 1970s. In the lobby were the words of Thomas Jefferson which continue to imply what the role of the newspaper should be in a free society:

“If it were left to me to decide whether to have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”

Jefferson’s words are also on one of the four panels in the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D. C. The P-I always could be counted upon to investigate excesses in government when they occurred and to keep demagogues in line when the occasion arose; but in my more than a half a century of reading The P-I, it has been more than a watchdog of my rights. It has been a source of information, a means of entertainment, and, at times, a needle instantly raising my blood pressure.

No part of any Seattle-area person’s existence was untouched by The P-I. The news pages, women’s pages, sports pages, opinion pages, special features, and even the comics have affected us all. Through the years, the women’s pages were transformed from strictly society news—weddings, engagements, club news—time, date place events; who, what, where, when—into a department exploring significant and controversial issues, adding the why and how to coverage.

Nancy Hevly, a women’s page staff member, recalls it was Susan Paynter who wrote the first stories of the new type. Among the first articles were those on a woman’s right to choose and on a lesbian couple.

Sally Raleigh was editor of the traditional society page and also guided it through its changes. “Lifestyle” was one of the subsequent titles which mirrored the change in content. Sally’s staff included Laura Emory Gilmore, Jean Lunzer and Nancy Hevly herself. Edna Daw edited the club news. If there was a PTA meeting, sorority gathering, etc., members would find the time, date and place in the club column. Groups chose publicity chairmen whose job it was to send notices on their meeting, guests, speakers, or special program to the newspaper.

Prudence Penny was the early title of the Home Economics Department. Food editors later began using their own names and their food pages continued to be popular and useful. Nancy Beardsley sometimes covered special community or church events showing an ethnic or historical specialty the public might enjoy.

Gradually women’s news blended into the rest of the newspaper. Articles under Lifestyle, for example, could be on either men or women. Until World War Two, women did not cover hard news. Lucille Cohen and Eleanor Bell were the first to break the sex barrier.

The name Royal Brougham was synonymous with P-I sports. He was not only the sports editor for so many years; he was also the cheerleader and promoter of every Seattle-based team and outstanding athlete. “The Morning After,” his daily sports column, opened with sections on sports personalities or current happenings, and closed with a final “Chitter-Chatter,” sometimes with an other heading, composed of a miscellany of sports news. Everyone learned much about Husky sports and particularly Al Ulbrickson’s crews, hometown baseball hero Fred Hutchinson, and the Seattle Rainiers. Naming the street across from Safeco Field for Royal Brougham was well deserved as the P-I sports editor long touted major league baseball for Seattle. Like the rest of us, he survived the short stay of the Seattle Pilots in 1969. The Mariners began in 1977, a year before Royal Brougham’s death in 1978.

It was Royal Brougham who started the annual Man of the Year Sports Award and Banquet at the beginning of each calendar year. I attended the event in l957 because my St. Louis Cardinal hero, Stan Musial, was the special guest. When golfer JoAnne Gunderson was named “man” of the year that night, she turned to Royal Brougham and said, “Royal are you sure you’ve got the right man?” Pat Lesser, another woman, had won the award two years before. The problem was solved in recent years with the selection of one man and one woman.