@jeffreyrbunch

This is a post without all the answers about how to “save journalism.” There are no right ones. There are lots of relative truths.

Legacy media executives would tell you journalism-for-profit needs to be saved for people like them to continue to employ the teams of journalists who fill an important role in our society.

Independent and freelance journalists, many of them former newspaper standouts, would tell you there is a need to create a network of content producers which can distribute their work.

Entrepreneurial journalists, who run the gamut in age and experience, would tell you there is a need for scalable solutions (and revenue streams) for their new-idea products.

Citizen journalists, who seem to embrace or shun the title “blogger,” would tell you they want an outlet for the unique set of skills they possess and to be acknowledged for those qualities.

In my home media market of the Portland, Oregon DMA, cooperative groups of these stakeholders are discussing ways to save (or not) “journalism,” either as a business, a noble calling, a civic institution, or all of the foregoing.  They are looking for the answer(s) for the problem: journalism-as-we-knew-it is dead due to societal changes which have fractured markets.

All true.  All false.  It’s not that simple; neither the problem nor the solution(s). There is no one-size-fits-all for a new journalism model.  Each of the above groups of “journalists” are answering to the same calling, but are dependent on different outcomes for their situations.  Publishers have payrolls to meet; journalists (independent or not) have mortgages to pay; entrepreneurs need to show a return on investment; citizen journalists have day jobs to hold down.

Where is all this headed for each of these diverse stakeholders? Who knows?  But we do know it won’t be down one path. My friend, Nozzl Media CEO Steve Woodward, calls it “The Futures – Plural – of Journalism.” My colleague, Carol Doane, points out “Building a new model may require listening.”  There have been dozens of insightful blog posts and tweets in the wake of a gathering called We Make the Media (twitter #wmtm).”  It follows in the footsteps of Digital Journalism Camp Portland, and dozens of other gatherings around the nation. Other ideas are the droning buzz of recovering journalists throughout the Internet.

We are all talking about it, but it just needs to get done (step-by-step over a course which isn’t marked and may take some turns).  Action is the aim of the Portland group and of some less visible (but just as important) industry revenue initiatives.  All the while, technology empowers new waves of “publishers” who will also be part of the new and multifaceted state of journalism.

-30-

Jess Walter, "The Zero" and "The Financial Lives of the Poets" (images from www.jesswalter.com)

On my last post, I wanted to mention another connection to Ground Zero and the events of 9/11 which I felt, vicariously through a friend of mine.  If you haven’t heard of Edgar Award-winning author Jess Walter, you should check him out. Jess is from Spokane, Washington, and is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.

Jess was a top-notch reporter at The Spokesman-Review newspaper, where he had a chance to cover the Ruby Ridge standoff between Randy Weaver and the federal agents. Jess is a longtime friend of mine and we worked together for years.  Jess wrote a book about the Ruby Ridge standoff, it was excerpted in Newsweek, then made into a TV movie starring Randy Quaid.

Jess’ next few gigs involved ghost-writing autobiographies for Christopher Darden and a couple of other well-known people.  He then got to publish novels “Land of the Blind,” “Over Tumbled Graves,” “Citizen Vince,” and “The Zero” (a National Book Award Finalist).  Citizen Vince is waiting in the Hollywood pipeline to be produced after award-winning writer Richard Russo adapted it as a screenplay.  Jess is also working on another film project, “Born to Rock,” with David Duchovny and Tea Leoni as producers.

Jess is not only an incredibly gifted and witty writer but he’s also a great guy.  He still lives in Spokane and is still making a living as a writer.  He will be on his current book tour after its kickoff on Sept. 23rd in Spokane at Aunties Bookstore.  He will also be coming to my adopted hometown of Portland, Ore. to Powell’s Books twice in October (Oct. 7 for the Portland Noir collection – to which he is a contributor – and Oct. 29 for his new book).

So, what connection does Jess create for me with 9/11? Jess was there just a week or so after that unfortunate day for meetings and recounted the horror of what was still present as the recovery effort continued and New Yorkers (and the nation) wandered around in a state of shock.  He spent a lot more time there afterward. Thus, his book “The Zero” is set in the post-9/11 New York environment.  Then, as my wife and I honeymooned in NYC, fate brought Jess to us for his reading of “The Zero” in Manhattan.  We were able to be in the audience, along with some reflective New York residents, as the fifth anniversary of 9/11 loomed.  In looking into the eyes of a couple of policemen on hand, I could only imagine what they had seen and how they couldn’t forget it.

For more information on Jess Walter and his works, including the upcoming book “The Financial Lives of the Poets,” check out jesswalter.com.   Here is an interview he did recently with Publishers Weekly.  The books is only currently available, as a preorder, through Amazon.com.  Support your independent booksellers, though.