Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 8, Issue 3, March 2004

Copyright 2004 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article below in your research. Be sure to cite the Seattle Sun as your source.

Mustering courage

By SUSAN PARK

My newspaper distributor, Paul from Seattle Distribution (who by the way, does an absolutely fantastic job), dropped off a couple of shoppers for me the other day that he had picked up in Everett. The "Clip-It, Be Happy" coupon papers are printed on crinkly newsprint the size of the old Jet City Maven. They run between 8 and 12 pages and consist entirely of ads. It reminds me of the shopper Stan Stapp's older brother, Milton, first launched which later became a legitimate newspaper, the North Central Outlook.

I suppose that the publisher of the "Clip-It" will eventually add event announcements and maybe even a calendar. Perhaps at some point, they will even offer articles in exchange for advertisements. However, I doubt they'll ever print any real news ­ the kind that doesn't come with strings attached; the kind that unfortunately loses advertisers.

The minimum charge for a display ad in the "Clip-It" is $79, almost twice as high as the $40 minimum charge in the Sun.

This past year, our good friend, the Seattle Star community newspaper serving Central and South Seattle, was honored by the Seattle Weekly as being the best community newspaper for reporting unabashedly the goings-on's of our local government. Although I did feel a slight tinge of envy, I have to admit that in order to survive, the Sun has in the past held back somewhat in our reporting for fear of financial or legal repercussions. Wallis Bolz, publisher of the Star, has had the courage to print what she wants.

Last spring, we were blessed with the addition of such a courageous reporter, James Bush. Our avid readers will know that Bush is the brilliant political columnist who broke the story in the Sun on "Stripper-gate" which made national news in large daily newspapers such as the Chicago Sun-Times.

We were surprised to lose a few supporters when we printed news of the scandal, but gained new ones who appreciated the in-depth coverage. By far, our largest gain has been in readership as we have had to increase our print run to 25,000 copies each issue.

In a better economy, Bush would be working for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Seattle Times, or the King County Journal. I know that any day now, he will come into my office and announce that he has been offered such a job.

Bush began writing for the Sun as a freelance political columnist in the fall of 2002, but took over as temporary part-time reporter last spring when our entire staff abandoned ship.

At this time last year when the Iraq war was looming, our economic situation had become so dire, we had to give out layoff warning notices to our support staff for the first time since we'd started our business. Just to give you an idea of how bad it was, about one third of our advertisers were over three months past due, sales for March were down by twenty-five percent, and sales for April were down by forty percent. The bank account was in danger of running dry.

Within a month, all three of our employees departed in a mass exodus, one declaring, "I'll never work for a community newspaper again." Columnist James Bush rescued us, stepping in as part-time reporter and helping out in every way possible around the office.

We dedicate this anniversary issue to his friendship, loyalty, and support of not only the newspaper, but also to the community who he ultimately serves. On behalf of our readers, we appreciate his courage and hard work to expose scandal fairly and justly.