Enumclaw was barely out of the woods when it got its first newspaper. In 1890, only eleven years after the Stevensons built their tiny cedar shack in the old growth forest near today's city hall, the presses began running for the Evergreen Overland in the new town. Actually, it was a new state, too--just a few months old--and the new governor's son, Bert Rogers, saw opportunity here. But he and three other hopeful entrepreneurs were ahead of their time, and had to close down their Evergreen Overland after only two years.
Rogers' failure can be attributed not only to the scant population, but to competition. Those few people had already been served by the Buckley Banner since December 17, 1889. (1) The paper across the White River not only preceded the Overland--it survived until 1973.(2)
In 1895, the Banner reported the eruption of Mt. Baldy (above the current Enumclaw Expo Center) as "explosions 'like the roar of a canon' and 'a crater alive with terrible heat' ". Although geologically unlikely and otherwise unconfirmed, the event is portrayed vividly with "tendrils of molten lava snaking their way down the slopes and plumes of smoke that can be seen from as far away as Seattle, 50 miles to the northwest."(3)
Find out what's happening in Enumclawwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Old copies of the Banner, as well as its presses and boxes of type and various artifacts, can be seen today in the Foothills Historical Society Museum in Buckley.
Enumclaw again got its own newspaper when D. C. Ashmun started the King County Courier in 1900. The new paper was not averse to editorializing about a variety of topics. In the first issue of the Courier, a column exhorted each citizen to take responsibility. "Fifteen minutes a day after work hours by each resident will clean every street in Enumclaw in thirty days, and thirty more days will cut down the brush on non-resident lots. But, say some, the owners will not permit them to be cleared. A man who will object to such clearing has no right to our respect or consideration and we should treat such non-resident property as though the owner were in the asylum, where he belonged. Do your share of improving and let your dirty neighbor go plumb to the devil. If he gets roasted you will enjoy your luxury just so much more."(4)
Find out what's happening in Enumclawwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Ashmun published the King County Courier for three years until a devastating fire destroyed the building and its contents. He struggled on for another year but finally sold to local physician, Dr. H. H. Rust. Vernon Van Buskirk came from Seattle to manage the operation for Rust and was amazed at what he found. The " 'make believe printing office' [was] quite a change from the city. They printed each page singly on a press powered by a foot treadle."(5)
Ashmun started his second paper, the Herald, in Enumclaw in 1909, but he and his successors struggled with it until Clarence Lafromboise assumed its leadership. The two papers merged into the Courier-Herald in 1933, and in turn, bought the Buckley Banner in 1973.
Ending more than a century as a home-grown newspaper, the Courier-Herald was bought in 2008 by Sound Publishing, a subsidiary of Canadian-based Black Press. Two years later, publisher Bill Marcum left to become regional manager for Nickle Ads in Portland. Nickle Ads and Little Nickle Classifieds are also owned by Black Press. Black Press presently has 150 publications and 3500 employees.(6)
When a large, multi-national media corporation assumes ownership of a locally owned newspaper, changes are to be expected. Courier-Herald editor Kevin Hanson moved into a reporter position in another Sound Publishing paper, and reporter Dennis Box was named editor here. Other reporters were let go. The page size of the paper and the non-advertising content were reduced, while several generic columns replaced local stories. The paper was delivered free to area residents, although subscriptions were still available to those who did not realize they didn't have to pay for it. (We received three copies each week until we cancelled our subscription. Now we get only two.)
Many newspapers around the country are financially in trouble now, but some of the survivors have been adapting to changing times. With a few local articles, generic content that mimics local, minimal staff, and elimination of investigative reporting, a paper can cut costs significantly and becomes more of an advertising circular. The old town paper turns into something quite different, although it retains its old name.
That being said, the Courier-Herald recently featured a remarkable series. Editor Dennis Box did the old- fashioned kind of reporting for the Malcolm Fraser trial. He sat through hours of testimony, interviewed people, conducted research, and took photos. The stories would be interesting primarily to Enumclaw readers, given the trial's connections to people and institutions in our community.
Of course, the biggest threat to traditional media in general, and the Enumclaw Courier-Herald in particular, has been the internet. People have many more sources of news now, much of it narrowed to their particular interests. And with instant access to alternatives, they are less patient to wait a week to find out what is happening.
Critical to survival is a revenue stream. So far, the Courier appears to have maintained much of its advertising, although some grocery store fliers have shifted to advertising circulars. Craigslist has replaced print classifieds as the personal marketplace of choice, although our town paper still seems to be able to sell classified ads.
Most small town newspapers, including the Courier, have added a website to capture the internet audience, but they have generally been cumbersome sites that few people use. It is as if they were electronic copies of their print versions that did not capitalize on the unique opportunities of the online experience.
As our old newspaper was struggling with its new identity, a new player arrived in town. At the end of 2011, Enumclaw Patch launched as an online source of local news. Since Patch is the current home of this history blog series, I will say a little more about it.
Enumclaw was one of fourteen Patch sites that opened in the Puget Sound area by its parent corporation, America Online. There are currently about 900 Patches in twenty-three states. With local editor April Chan, a budget for freelance writers, and opportunity for local citizens to blog and comment, the site provided a structure for "hyper-local" journalism. It made good use of several capabilities print media did not have:
--Articles, blogs, comments, and announcements could be added or updated at any time.
--Copy didn't have to fill a prescribed number of column inches.
--Citizen journalism wasn't limited to Letters to the Editor.
--Staff and readers could post any number of pictures in color and high resolution.
--Comments could be more like conversation.
--Since content is constantly changing, readers are apt to check every day or several times a day.
Patch's concept of connecting people to local news appeared to work from the outset. Readers posted blogs and comments, they saw April around town at local events and got to know her, and the word spread. Several Enumclaw-specific articles appeared each day and town events were well covered by both the editor and organizers. The mayor, city council members, and business owners participated, and a wide spectrum from the community wrote for and read Enumclaw Patch. The same was happening in other Patches, and it appeared this online model for local news would succeed.
As with any innovation, problems arose that had to be ironed out. Editors were overworked and not paid competitive wages, they were required to post five articles a day, they had to find their own replacements if they went on vacation, they were supposed to sell advertising, and they were "on" 24 hours a day.(7)
In order to increase clicks (and revenue), hot-button issues for small communities, such gun control or gay marriage, were cross-posted to many sites, with sometimes hundreds of repetitious comments by relatively few people from somewhere else. Tony Cesare, a former Patch freelancer, commented on a media blog, the site was "becoming just another 'click-bait' site posting opinion stories that are guaranteed to bring out the ideological nut cases. On our site inflammatory comments that clearly violated the terms of use were allowed to stay up for weeks until the comment threads became a troll war in a cesspool of personal insults."(8) Traffic definitely increased in this early shift away from Patch's original goal of hyper-local.
Articles and blogs began appearing from even farther afield with a pretense of being local. Doreen noticed that a "when to plant your vegetables" article in Enumclaw (and all Puget Sound) Patches originated in southern California, with information totally inappropriate for our climate. I began clicking on the article author names and discovered they were local to Georgia or New Jersey or Michigan. Patch was not able or at least willing to control the invasion of non-local into its local sites.
Despite Patch's efforts to increase traffic, the projected revenue was not forthcoming. AOL invested at least $200 million in Patch since starting the venture, and has yet to make a profit.(9) The plan was to fund local sites with advertising from nearby, aimed directly at the local audience, but it didn't happen. More national ads, often mysteriously targeted at the individual user, began appearing. I received ads for recumbent trikes, but I doubt anyone else in Enumclaw did!
The latest attempt to get Patch on track has been a total revamp of the format. The first change I noticed was the Enumclaw-specific Mount Rainier panorama, replacing a generic clouds banner. The constant intrustion of "click bait" comments was eliminated by keeping all comments with articles rather than featuring them at the top of the front page. Despite these improvements, a host of technical problems have hampered acceptance and implementation of the new format. Pictures now appear out of sequence, a rather important issue for a history blog, and you can't select a picture to feature (lead). Most frustrating for me is to have a blog totally disappear when I try to edit. Event dates were totally disconnected from reality for awhile, and most searches no longer work.
At the same time the technical problems were driving away most regular Enumclaw participants, Patch central implemented some major cost-cutting measures. Editors were given multiple sites, and not necessarily near where they currently worked. Enumclaw editor April Chan was given a second site-- Bonney Lake/Sumner--and subsequently Renton in place of Enumclaw, while Shoreline editor Jenny Manning had Enumclaw added to her responsibilities. She is also community editor, serving all fourteen Puget Sound Patches. With editors given an impossible job, it is not surprising coverage of local events suffered. (The huge Buckley Log Show never got a mention.) Much of local news has been replaced by generic postings from afar. This month we have had blogs from Mercer Island and Woodinville, as well as announcements from Ohio and Oregon.
We have yet to see what will become of local news in Enumclaw. Will the Courier, or at least Black Rock and Sound Publishing, capitalize on the participatory nature of the internet? Will it continue to evolve into an advertising circular or rediscover its roots in community news? Will Patch central in New York discover how to realize their original goal of becoming a community news source while surviving financially? Will someone else create a different model yet for local news in a changing world?
How do you assess current community news coverage in Enumclaw? How will (or could) it change in the future?
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NOTES
(1) Shadow, p. 110
(2) About Buckley Banner. Chronicling America: American's Historic Newspapers. Library of Congress
(3) "Newspaper reports eruption of Mount Baldy on January 10, 1895." Historylink Essay 416.
(4) "Don't Do It." The King County Courier. July 20, 1920.
(5) Louise--p. 39.
(6) Blackpress.ca
(7) Media Nation
(8) jimromenesko.com
(9) Business Insider
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ENUMCLAW CENTENNIAL BLOG SERIES
The Histories of Enumclaw
Introduction--Enumclaw: The First 6020 Years
Early Enumclaw: 6000 Years Ago to the Mid-1800s
Early Enumclaw: The First European Americans Arrive
The Adventures of Allen Porter's Wagon
Enumclaw's Early Plateau Neighbors
Schools and Districts
Franklin
Enumclaw's Railroads
Enumclaw Becomes a Town: 1879-1913
Enumclaw, the Cooperative Capital
Historic Houses In and Around Enumclaw
Setting the Scene for the Centennial Celebration, 1/27/1913
Incorporation through World War II: Enumclaw from 1913-1945
Logging and Lumber
Enumclaw's Affair with Alcohol and Tobacco
Tom Smith, Enumclaw Town Marshall
Local Elders Know Their History
Growth and Prosperity: Enumclaw from 1945-2008
History of the Anderson Garden in Enumclaw
120 Years of Churches in Enumclaw
From Puncheon Roads to Scenic Byway
Enumclaw History from 2008 to the Present
A History of Banking in Enumclaw
Enumclaw News Over the Years
Fourth of July Celebrations
Enumclaw News Then and Now
Bill Kombol Receives 2013 History Award
Enumclaw's Next Two Decades: 2013-2033
The Limits of Growth
Alternative Futures
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