Noozhawk Leaves the Nest
I'm not so sure about the name and I'm not so sure digital content works well in the newspaper style and feel of their web site....but Noozhawk is off to a good start and we have to give them a hand for attracting quality reporters like Rob Kuznia, Leslie Dinaberg and Sonia Fernandez. I'm looking forward to a bright future for Noozhawk....
Labels: Noozhawk
posted by Sara De la Guerra | 10/16/2007 08:42:00 AM
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Is it coincidence that the NP is running an editorial about biased public forums this morning? I couldn't read the whole things as I am not a subscriber, but I got the gist of it from the intro. Any bets on how long it will take Wendy to send Bill a cease and desist letter?
Can they out do the foodie website discussion on gangs and crime?
http://nippers.sbwh.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1578
Is it just me or is the website extremely slow? Looks and feels like santabarbaranewroom.com. I wish them well in their endeavor.
Let's hope this new Macfadyen production performs better than South Coast Beacon.
As their investment revenue dried up, the Beacon lost its real news reporters and it became just a shill for the real estate industry with little more than puff pieces about interior decorating as an excuse for news.
A web-only news venture in the post-meltdown News-Press and gone Goleta Voice era indeed is a different venture, but the quality of the original content still is going to be what drives readers to look for it in their computers instead of on the ground in front of their homes.
At least the SB Newsroom history can be good lessons learned.
Well I am glad Nooz Hawk (what a name!--google will never help) was able to clear up everything I needed to know about Measure A thanks to the Mayor's column.
Nobody is talking about the danger to Plaza de la Guerra except Travis. How can that be?
While McCaw and Barry fiddle in court, Santa Barbara burns with more and more competition to "the daily."
I do not wish them luck. Bill Macfadyen spammed a lot of people this morning, and he didn't even bother to use the BCC. Now everyone has my most private address, damnit. If people are interested, they'll find the site. If they are not--count me among them--then leave us alone!
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I don't know about anyone else, but after checking out that nipper string, I am way more scared of those foodies than I am of any gang members.
As for Noozhawk...if it had come online one year ago, maybe. Now? The hour has passed.
the News-Press is still going to win out. If there are too many competing sources of news, the biggest will survive. Now, if Noozhawk and the Daily Sound combined forces, then maybe then can start to make some headway.
6:27-6:40 pm -- tell us a bit more! Why am I reprinting this? How do you feeeel about it :)
Seriously, why is this important -- I know why, but why should anyone else care?
Thanks for letting us know...
I was going to post an announcement in the calendar or whatever section of an upcoming event. However, I stopped when I had to register in order to do that.
Given that they mailed out the announcement without bcc'ing - I was not among that group - I wondered how considerate they would be about the names/addresses of those who registered ... and decided not to get listed and to not have the event listed.
It makes you wonder how much Macfadyen really know about the Internet...either we agree he should have known or take it as a simple mistake we all make occasionally. Me? I've been burned on that a time or two maybe ten years ago --- never again.
Still, I wish them the best...
Keep on taking..Your gonns make us famous...
I am the one who posted about having my private email address used for Bill Macfadyen's spam announcement.
Lest any of you think he got it because I registered there, you are wrong. He had it from several years ago when I made the mistake of writing for the Beacon. It is an address that is given to only a few people.
Obviously he decided to just use it. I have no idea who the others are. I didn't check their addresses before deleting the email (and marking the domain as spam) because I wanted to give them the respect he didn't bother to show. So the privacy policy he (or someone from there) posted above has NO application to this situation.
Damage control? Not in this case. I am still very angry.
Sara,
Your observation and experience proves an important point about the future of news media.
A newspaper is not the same as an online news source. Yet most of the on-line news sources nationwide are managed by people from "old" media who don't have the experience and have not hired the talent that would allow them to operate across all media.
This is creating problems.
If you'll allow, I'd like to post a link to my current overview of SB online media with respect to the concept of Newspaper 2.0.
http://prodroom.blogspot.com/
Thanks
Why does this all seem like the Balkanization of the Santa Barbara media? ... A bunch of little farts trying to take down that hurricane of a gass bag at De La Guerra Plaza?
Excuse me for my cynicism, but all these little endeavours like the Daily Sound and Nooz hawk are more of an irritation than a competition for the News-Press readership, because they can't do what the News-Press does -- provide a home-delivered, daily publication with comics, sports, life section, etc.
Granted, the N-P gets beat on a lot of news stories by the Sound and Independent, and the quality of writing has diminished greatly, but they also have such things as complete sports coverage which you can't get anywhere else. So people will still buy it and these little half-assed attempts at competition will accomplish little.
Will SOMEBODY with means please start a daily newspaper that looks like a real daily newspaper?!? OItherwise, I have to still buy that crappy N-P.
I don't have to buy the NP, I can get all that I need online from a very select few sources. I personally know dozens of people that have cancelled their newspress and haven't looked back thanks in part to the Daily Sound (do I really need comics?), the Independent online, and a few local blogs.
I agree with the above poster. The only thing keeping the NP alive is the sports section...mainly the local sports. They have taken their lumps also, but they are surviving and providing something no one else does. And since local sports are so popular...until the Sound, Noozhawk, or whoever covers daily local and high school sport they will still lag behind the NP. Just the way it is.
Only media with an reasonable base of revenue (or a substantial endowment) will survive.
Rest assured that your old eyeballs rolling around from blog to blog about a year old story is NOT what advertisers or even shopkeepers in Santa Barbara are looking for. Just walk down State Street anytime. Look at them, then look at you.
Noozhawk is a loser and will sink... what is it's point? and where are the advertisers?? Ultimately MacFayden will tell you that Its actually MORE COST INTENSIVE TO LAUNCH A SUCCESSFUL DAILY WEB NEWSPAPER THAN A DAILY PRINT PUB.
Daily Sound has a shot at viability as long as the pockets can stand 3 years and get web traffic going AND GET audited. Independent rules revenue and audience, as well as having an audited circulation and a good web presence. Nexus owned by the State so it dont count. NP's next ABC statement will probably be pretty comical but who knows? They have the dough to keep circ moving.
And true, NP still owns SPORTS, but y'all forgot OBITS (paid by the way) and a good share of LEGAL ADVERTISING (also lots of $$$) - an indicator of the depth of their strength.
And you can bet that the funds from Wendy will continue to flow till all this is forgotten and the NP is known best damn pet and animal based daily newspaper in the whole wide world... something to LINE YOUR CAGE WITH!
I took a look at Noozhawk. Seems to me it will soon be referred to generally as "SnoozHawk" if it isn't already.
I like Sara, Craig, and Edhat. The Daily Sound is pretty good too. The Independent website is days behind these others in their coverage of local news.
I'm sorry, did someone say Snoozhawk? The fact that they sent out that message as a CC and not BCC shows me they are not to be trusted.
You can still access the Obituaries at the News-Press, even without a subscription. Just go to the website of the NP and click on Local News and then Obits.
This was the one concern I had when we cancelled our subscription. We're getting to that age ...
2 former newspaper employees!
News-Press owns Sports? Not without John Zant. The Indy or whatever publication he writes for will always claim a piece of the sports pie with him on its side. Sorry News-Press, but you really effed up by firing that man. Just ask your own Sports staffers, News-Press. They KNOW. His absence hangs like a cloud over the entire department. But you could always bring him back ... Just do it!
As long as Wendy McCaw owns the News-Press, there will be room for Noozhawks in town. Nick Welsh said in the Poodle yesterday,
"Under Wendy’s firm hand, the News-Press has been a business failure, a political failure, a social failure, and a journalistic disaster. In her own mind, Wendy might be the second coming of Joan of Arc. But the rest of the world sees a bitter, spiteful woman, all too eager to impose her unhappiness on anyone who crosses her."
The top story on NewzHawk today mimics the advertising on the right hand side of the page ...
Laguna Blanca School Celebrates 25th Anniversary
So much for the wall.
John Zant was an asset and a good writer, but one writer does not a Sports Section make. They still have Patton, and a raft of other LOCAL SPORTS contributors, and a team of great photographers. Patton's legacy with the paper goes back to his father who was Sports Editor over 40 years ago. And there's no loss to the community... Zant's at the Independent.
Zant, unlike Barney and Starshine (for example) was excuse me, IS a TRUE PRO. The Independent would do well to home grow their own replacements and let BB and *Shine migrate to Craig Smith status.
I have waited a few days to let Noozhawk get going before commenting.
There is a huge potential to make Noozhawk a really good online publication but it definitely needs more input and more pizazz. I worked with Bill at the NP for many years and know he is honest and ethical. (Get over yourself with the emails. You used an anonymous posting and nobody knows or cares who you are.) I do think though that Noozhawk suffers from some of the same problem as the Beacon. It is rather dry. Bill needs to add some color, interest and fun to their "papers" to hold reader interest. I am not talking about sensational stories, just good human interest stories. I would also like to see him tackle some of the issues affecting the area and do some good investigative reporting. There are lots of issues facing the SB community that have not been addressed adequately by other news sources that Noozhawk can address. Last of all, I agree that without comprehensive local sports, it will be tough to really draw the readers. Bill has his challenges ahead of him, but hopefully he can add some good people to fill in the gaps and create a really great publication for the community.
Noozhawk is not viable as business and it's downright shameful journalistically. Rob Kuznia, one of the biased rejects from the News-Press, has no business posing as a reporter for any publication.
Have we sunk to a new low or what? Anonymous poster tells another: "...you used an anonymous posting and nobody knows or cares who you are."
There is no use in trying to find virtues in what looks like another ho-hum rehash of the same old garbage but the Santa Blithidiots will continue to do so as if someone cares.
Nobody cares who any of us are.
Rob Kuznia was biased about what? Seriously, I want to know. I keep hearing Wendy's lackeys throw that word around like it's going out of style but I still can't figure out what they're talking about.
Are they biased against blacks? Jews? Homosexuals? Neo-conservatives? Feral pigs? Coyotes? Tree roots?
As far as sports coverage goes, Zant was indeed a huge loss, but nobody else even tries to compete with the News-Press in that area. Zant writing one column a week in the Indy doesn't cut it as competition. The Daily Sound sends a couple of guys out to high school football games, but that's about it. Noozhawk sports is so sketchy it's not even worth mentioning.
The News-Press will retain decent circulation as long as it keeps giving this town a healthy diet of daily, local sports and Patton columns. They're doing that. Nobody else is. So Wendy and old Nip-Brain win while cutting back all their other news departments. Sad.
Oh where did you go, Sara McCune — our town turns its lonely eyes to you ... Whoo whoo whoo ...
Rob Kuznia is one of the most meticulous and accurate reporters I have ever worked with.
I never found his reporting to be biased while I was the assistant city editor at the News-Press. He went so far as to take copies of his stories home with him, reread them and call me to change a few words or add some information.
One time a story he wrote about teachers' raises resulted in a scathing letter to the editor written by the president of the teachers' union.
I thought that if the accusations in that letter were accurate, that Rob had made errors and I would need to talk to him about them.
But before doing so, I read the various edited versions of his story in its audit trail. Lo and behold, the first edit was by Associate Editor Scott Steepleton, who had altered some information around in the first several paragraphs, creating the inaccuracies cited in that letter. Steepleton then sent the story to copy editors who were unaware that factual errors had been introduced into the story.
So, instead of reprimanding Rob, I advised him to print copies of his original story and the version edited by Steepleton, to protect himself should the matter be brought up in a future evaluation.
Otherwise, I never heard complaints about Rob's stories or any of the other reporters who have been frivolously accused of bias. Never have I seen any of those accusations substantiated with facts, only whimsical opinions and perceptions.
It certainly doesn't take guts for anonymous cowards to attempt to assassinate the characters of reputable journalists such as Rob Kuznia.
And I certainly also understand why Hannah Guzik preferred to resign rather than allow her stories to be edited inaccurately. I worked with her while she was a stringer, and was impressed with her journalistic abilities and wholeheartedly recommended that she be hired at the News-Press before my unexpected departure.
Just as The Daily Sound has added new talent to its staff with Hannah, Noozhawk has done likewise with Rob. Kudos to both!
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