Author Archives: Lauren Rabaino

Can a journalist be a capitalist? Yes.

Can a journalist be a capitalist? It’s the question asked by Michael Rosenblum as he describes the current state of the journalist: We are the perpetual groveling employees, beggaring for a few crumbs and generally seeing our jobs and incomes … Continue reading

How The Seattle Times Covered a snow storm

How The Seattle Times covered a snow storm – My recap at 10,000 Words about our snow coverage. The most interesting part was the live chat that we kept live all day for three days to give status updates and … Continue reading

Why can’t newspapers make money online? (Mashable) - So, they’ve got it all figured out? “The bottom line is this: the reason that newspapers can’t make money is because they’re pricing themselves out of the market.” It’s a lot more complicated than that. I like what Paul K. Ward says in the comments of the article: “Newspapers and other information outlets shouldn’t be setting sights on paying their costs, they should be focused instead on creating demand for what they offer at a profit. ” There are so many problems with the way many newspapers present and distribute news online that makes it less desirable than other outlets. And the fact that we’re still calling ourselves “newspapers” is problematic too. If that’s what we identify as, that’s what we prioritize, and the web will always be an afterthought. We are media companies. We have websites and newspapers. And we need to think creatively about the future of both. Create unique demand for our content online, then you can charge for it.

Just initiated the first of many changes to my “personal branding”

I hate going to conferences or speaking to classes and getting the question, “So, is ‘Michell’ your maiden name?” No, actually. It’s my middle name (pronounced ‘Michelle’) and I was stupid to start using that for my global username from … Continue reading

AAJA Seattle gets a facelift

As the newly-elected VP of Programs for the Seattle chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association, my first order of business was, naturally, a website redesign – freshly launched this morning. It was a quickie makeover that I will probably improve over time. … Continue reading

The new, convoluted life cycle of a newspaper storyMy latest post at 10,000 Words is getting more attention than I anticipated. Apparently it’s an issue that resonates with a lot of people at print publications: how to make something cohesive out of ongoing stories when you’re constantly publishing updates in the form of tweets, blog posts, print stories, etc.

WooThemes launches theme based on Rutledge’s redux - I wrote in July about Andy Rutledge’s design redux getting slammed by journo-tweeters after he wrote a scathing post (which has since been deleted from the web) about news design. While many of his points were spot-on, it was frustrating for those of us at newspapers who know there are a lot more politics and technical integration issues that go into website design than meet the eye. This week, though, premium WordPress theme developers at WooThemes launched Currents, a WordPress news theme based almost exactly of Rutledge’s initial design. Worth checking out.

Behind the scenes of Seattle Times’ new WordPress blog, The Today File

This week marks my fifth month at The Seattle Times, a perfect time for an update about what I’ve been up to. Almost since the minute I walked in the door, Eric Ulken has had me working on an unprecedented … Continue reading

Making Your News Budget Public: How And Why – I feel like I’ve been talking about open news for years and years. Back then, I referred to it as “making your editorial calendar public,” but now that I’m an old fart in a newsroom, I say “open your news budget.” Same diff. My latest post at 10,000 Words outlines examples of a few news orgs who are actually doing it – finally. Some use Facebook, others use Twitter, some are writing straight-up blog posts and others are using Google Spreadsheets. More later today on how The Seattle Times is approaching this concept.

On deciding to dedicate time to a new storytelling tool

Tools come and go. We blog about them all the time as they crop up. We poke around, make accounts that quickly expire. We wait for platforms to fall out of beta, but forget about them by the time they … Continue reading

The future of video in online journalism

Predicting the future of anything is tough, especially in online journalism and certainly when it comes to video. I remember a time when “multimedia” was everything at conferences and in j-school classrooms. Those days faded and were replaced with “social … Continue reading

Inside the Seattle Times’ basement

This morning I ventured into the Seattle Times “press room,” which I expected to be a room for press conferences. But, nope. It was the other kind of press room, where they actually printed the paper years ago. The whole … Continue reading

An ode to George Ramos

He was always proud to say that his Cal Poly class ring said both “BS” and “’69″ — and he wasn’t afraid to make an inappropriate joke about it in front of 60 parents at graduation. George Ramos was never … Continue reading

AP’s new “linking” policy is not real innovation

And in an act of irony, I’m duplicating my efforts and re-posting this on my personal blog. I, unlike the AP, though, am inline linking to the original source. — If anything, the AP’s decision to start linking to original … Continue reading

If your website’s full of assholes, it’s your fault. Anil Dash is spot on. Part of maintaining a news website is maintaining community and having high standards. He outlines five steps every website should take to keep their community in order. Because whether we like it or not, quality of our comments reflects on how our organizations are perceived, and the quality of comments that will come up moving forward.

My life as an undocumented immigrant. I finally had a chance to read this in full. It’s the first-hand account of a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has worked at The Washington Post, HuffPo, etc., who has taken extreme to keep his illegal status a secret, all the while reporting on the truth for high-profile publications. It hits a chord with me because so many of my Filipino family members came here, including my father, just about 25 years ago. Read it. And read WaPo’s response about why they didn’t publish it.

What I’ve been up to these past few weeks

Phew, what a crazy three weeks it’s been! I’m writing this post from Seattle, where I’ve now been officially living for a full week. Yesterday was my first day at The Times. Here are a few highlights about the move … Continue reading

Seattle WP Meetup Friday. Just found out Matt Mullenweg is hosting a last-minute meetup tonight at the Pike Pub & Brewery downtown. Headed down there now. If you’re here and you’re free, come join us. Yes, that means I made the 20+ hour drive up here from California and am now officially living in Seattle. More on that later.