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Monday, March 16, 2009

Media Hazard a Guess?

Posted by on Mon, Mar 16, 2009 at 4:59 PM

Meet the SeattlePI.com's new roster of columnists:

Among the new columnists, Hearst said, will be Norm Rice, a former Seattle mayor, and his wife, Constance Rice; a congressman, Jim McDermott; Maria Goodloe-Johnson, who heads the city’s public schools; and a former police chief, a former United States attorney, and two former governors.

I'm wondering about the average age of this group.

 

Comments (29) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment
1
half past dead...
Posted by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me on March 16, 2009 at 5:04 PM
2
too old
Posted by danhowes on March 16, 2009 at 5:09 PM
3
Hmm, I think "journalists" should come from OUTSIDE the political sphere, not within it. Congressmen, mayors, governors all have a vested interest in supporting the status quo, and in defending their peers. Journalists should be exposing politicians, not kissing their asses. Not to say that politicians don't do good work, but they have a poor track record of writing about it in the paper.
Posted by Fnarf on March 16, 2009 at 5:09 PM
4
So this is going to be a collection of blogs....

Posted by merry on March 16, 2009 at 5:11 PM
5
Wow. More opinions on the web. That's sure to catch fire.
Posted by elenchos on March 16, 2009 at 5:12 PM
6
Not young, you could say....
Posted by The Washington Bus on March 16, 2009 at 5:23 PM
7
The Rices are 66 and 64. McDermott's 73. I assume the police chief is Norm Stamper, who has to be well over sixty (all I can find is that he started as a beat cop in 1966). The governors are two of Al Rosellini (99), Dan Evans (84), John Spellman (83), Booth Gardner (73), or Mike Lowry (70); Gary Locke's got a better job than this. I'll bet it's Evans and Gardner. The US attorney is surely John McKay (53), while Goodloe-Johnson is the baby of the group at 51.
Posted by Fnarf on March 16, 2009 at 5:27 PM
8
It's fitting that their columns will read exactly like a death rattle.
Posted by Dave M on March 16, 2009 at 5:37 PM
9
"Know your readership."
Posted by Bub on March 16, 2009 at 5:46 PM
10
Wow.

They were old when I moved to Seattle.

Talk about being out of touch with Seattle ...
Posted by Will in Seattle on March 16, 2009 at 5:49 PM
11
I wouldn't say they're necessarily "out of touch" Will, but it does seem a bit odd that this supposed "New Media" venture would skew so - well, geriatric.
Posted by COMTE on March 16, 2009 at 5:56 PM
12
Shorter Savage: Hey you old people! Get off my internet!
Posted by Jeff on March 16, 2009 at 5:57 PM
13
It's not so much the age of these folks that stands out, but their edginess.
Posted by seandr on March 16, 2009 at 5:58 PM
14
So columnists have to be young too? Fuck. What's an older person to do?
Posted by Bauhaus on March 16, 2009 at 6:04 PM
15
Is their firewall safe...?

you know how _________ (insert favorite inclusive adjective clause in previous blank)

love a safe firewall in the park.....

Posted by dan on March 16, 2009 at 6:04 PM
16
/b ?
Posted by Brendan on March 16, 2009 at 6:12 PM
17
It's not that everyone has to be young, Bauhaus. It's just that a mix would be nice. When the 50-pluses are the babies of the group, and the average is past retirement age (66 by my estimate), it's a bit extreme. My inlaws live in a housing development where you have to be 50 to live there, and it's not exactly The Next East Village, or even The Next Magnolia. It's a snooze, is what it is.
Posted by Fnarf on March 16, 2009 at 6:15 PM
18
Because politicians and government bureaucrats don't already have enough influence in determining what we consider "news"??

An inauspicious and uncreative start to say the least.
Posted by Trevor on March 16, 2009 at 6:15 PM
19
@ 10, right on.
Posted by Idaho Spud on March 16, 2009 at 6:45 PM
20
four hundred and thirty-seven
Posted by Katy on March 16, 2009 at 6:58 PM
21
gravitas, meet sedative.....
Posted by palamedes on March 16, 2009 at 7:18 PM
22
@3, right on.
Posted by WTF??? on March 16, 2009 at 7:19 PM
23
i look forward to reading what mcdermotts' young staffers have on their minds.
Posted by Jesus Fucking Christ on March 16, 2009 at 8:30 PM
24
Yeah, Savage, I gotta say that the age question on this one is more damning that questioning a forgetful octogenarian's driver's license.

The more pertinent question is whether the new PI will be a "newspaper" or a press release delivery mechanism for the powerful. No doubt it will be low cost. Most of the people on that list would likely write for free -- for no other reason to have a platform.
Posted by oneway on March 16, 2009 at 11:57 PM
25
It doesn't actually say "former governors of Washington". Pinch me.... could they have signed Blago?
Posted by eclexia on March 17, 2009 at 12:18 AM
26
I keep thinking of the opening sequence of "Kolchak the Night Stalker", where he walks into a newsroom, gets some coffee and sits down at a typewriter, fer crissakes........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xfl0m6U8…

I guess that's all about equivalent to the village blacksmith now............

Posted by merry on March 17, 2009 at 12:56 AM
27
My guess is the P-I jobs paid slightly better than being a Walmart greeter, the other career path open to octogenarians these days.
Posted by Drew on March 17, 2009 at 5:58 AM
28
Can't wait to troll the comment thread on uber-fascist, right wing cunt Maria Goodloe Johnson's Blog -
Posted by worf on March 17, 2009 at 8:47 AM
29
@12 for the win.
Posted by Will in Seattle on March 17, 2009 at 10:18 AM

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