All three Tampa Trib bloggers are closing up shop: Daily Dave, Clay and Side Salad.
11 a.m. PST UPDATE: Click on comments for updates that clear up most of this and go two-thirds of the way toward exculpating Trib bosses.
12:15 p.m. PST UPDATE:Daily Dave explains that some of his posts gave Trib managers the heebie jeebies.
Below is my original post from first thing this morning. I’m leaving it posted for posterity because there’s a lesson to be learned from posting before you really know anything.
I don’t know anything yet. Newsdesigner hints at some knowledge. But I suspect the Trib is going to bring all its bloggers under one roof, presumably where they can keep an eye on them.
Whatever the case the Trib is handling this with the aplomb that drove me away from the place 10 years ago. If you’re gonna do this you gotta go public with it and not cause a big stink. Unless they want to make a big stink, which wouldn’t be such a bad idea come to think of it. As long as their motives are pure.
The Trib has been a leading light in online stuff dating back to, well, right after I left the place. They chose badly, as was their tendency back then, and put all their content on Prodigy, the online service that predated America Online. But they caught up quickly. The guy who introduced me to my wife helped design their first Web site. When their music critic had his first baby, I posted a pic at my homepage.
So I have a lot of history with the Trib and I’m hoping they won’t disappoint me. The management is all different now; Media General, their owner, is supposed to be this great champion of media convergence — the Trib and a M.G.-owned TV station share the same real estate.
Over the years the Trib’s online team, to my pride (and regret because I moved away too soon to get in on the fun), has kicked the shiny fanny of the St. Pete Times and still does today.
So, hey, maybe the Trib hasn’t put its big black foot its mouth with all this. They’ve been Web-savvy for years and it would surprise the hell out of me to discover they’ve gotten really stupid all the sudden.
But this is the blogosphere, where all must be revealed or the darkest motives will be suspected. Whatever the Trib bosses are up to, their marching orders should’ve been for their bloggers to tell their 12 readers what’s going on.
11 comments for “Tampa Trib bloggers saying bye-bye”