Online Story

In Spokane, environmental advocacy has blossomed in the past few years. This is due in part to the three-year-old blog Down to Earth Northwest started by the Spokesman Review, writers say. The blog has also grown with the community, and those involved believe this connection may shed light on the future of journalism.


“Online is where the future is going to be,” said Joe Butler, contact coordinator for the Spokesman Review marketing department.


The blog began when editors at the Spokesman noticed a lack of coverage of environmental issues and no forum for the disconnected pockets of environmental advocates, Butler said. Interns Paul Dillon and Bart Mihailovich took over the project.


Butler has seen a change in the green community and the type of news it wants, which might be reflected in journalism, he said. The trend has gone from big picture, intense, guilt-inducing news, to a desire for well-being, lifestyle and community focused environmental news. Down to Earth exemplifies this lighter news trend.


“No publication before [Down to Earth] was drawing these people in,” Dillon said. “Through Down to Earth, we were able to connect them. Those people definitely did not have that forum beforehand.”


Others see this community news trend reflected in the way the news is presented. Down to Earth has one foot in the door of traditional media and one in new and social media, Mihailovich said. It is a blending of the formal and informal journalism.


Originally, Down to Earth was a simple WordPress blog. As it gained momentum, a new form became necessary, and the current Web site was launched in January 2008, Dillon said. Now, Down to Earth also has Facebook and Twitter accounts.


The Web site picks up articles from the Spokesman Review, buys columns, and has blog pieces, Butler said. The site also features events, profiles, tips and some creative advertising features.


“Down to Earth has succeeded in being a giant cork board of stories and meetings,” Mihailovich said.


This blend of news, blogs and marketing is innovative, Mihailovich said. He said readers are astute enough to tease all the aspects apart, and this type of integration will probably be seen more in the media.


Megan Cooley, a blogger for Down to Earth, sees journalists pulled from the background to the foreground of reporting. Readers are interested in what the journalist thinks rather than just what she saw, she said.


“Objectivity has slipped out the window. That’s what people expect,” Dillon said. “The interesting thing about environmental journalism is it’s definitely advocacy journalism.”


So while it’s still tenuous, some are drawing a connection between new media, environmental news and the future of journalism. Community action is the trend in environmentalism. Some journalists, like Butler, think the future of news may also be local with niche sites like Down to Earth.


“Being local is the biggest thing we can do,” Cooley said. “If we can build community at home through new media, that’s good.”



Sources

Joe Butler 509-459-5059



Megan Cooley 509-326-6024



Paul Dillon 360-204-0510



Bart Mihailovich bartly7@gmail.com