Episode 42: What if we bought The News Tribune?

Citizen Tacoma

On today’s episode we spoke with former News Tribune reporter Debbie Cafazzo and Matt Martinez, director of content for KNKX, about what it might look like if a local group of people banded together to buy our beloved (but suffering) hometown paper. We also discussed another option: starting a nonprofit, online-only news outlet that would be laser-focused on Pierce County news.

Martinez helped lead KNKX (formerly KPLU) as it raised $7 million to buy its independence from Pacific Lutheran University. Before taking a buyout in 2017, Cafazzo spent 24 years at the TNT.

For more background (and fun), I suggest reading the Credit Risk Monitor report on The McClatchy Company’s financial outlook, linked below. It paints a quick but illuminating picture of what’s going on with the TNT’s parent company and why there’s so much concern about continued cuts to our local newsroom.

Producer: Doug Mackey

Links:

Credit Risk Monitor: McClatchy continues to struggle in the newspaper industry

The Seattle Times: KPLU officially begins broadcasting as KNKX

The News Tribune: Publisher David Zeeck leaving The News Tribune after 24 years as publisher and executive editor

The Seattle Times: Tacoma News Tribune to lay off dozens of printing employees

Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy: Playbook for Launching a Local, Nonprofit News Outlet

Nonprofit Quarterly: Where Local Media Falters, Community-Based Nonprofit Models Step In

Politico: This is How a Newspaper Dies

Poynter: As Wall Street sours on McClatchy, a longtime lender is now also buying up its stock

KNKX

Channel 253

Sponsor

Citizen Tacoma is proudly sponsored by Pacific Lutheran University and Alaska Airlines