Pacifica Riptide

Opinion: Old-School Pacifica Tribune Goes Digital

BY ELAINE LARSEN

EDITOR & PUBLISHER, PACIFICA TRIBUNE

It’s a new day for weekly newspapers. Yes, it’s true. I am old school. Well, maybe: Fourth estate. Watergate. Watchdog press. Once upon a time, newspapers were the only game in town. I’m actually younger than Woodward and Bernstein, but what high school kid interested in journalism wasn’t immediately fascinated with two reporters whose dogged day-to-day reporting uncovered the most widely known scandal of the 1970s. Yes, Watergate created, or should I say inspired, an entire generation of journalists.

Fast-forward to 2011. I’ve been in this game since I was 18. That’s 31 years. High school newspaper editor. College newspaper editor. And Pacifica Tribune employee since age 25. The past five years as editor and publisher. I love this job. I love this town.

But things are changing. And the Pacifica Tribune could use your help. I am very happy to report to all of you faithful readers that the Pacifica Tribune is still one of the best little community weeklies, and we have been so for more than 50 years.

People have been asking me for a long time, "We love our Tribune, so what can we do to help?" Very easy: Tell everyone you know to subscribe. For just $30 a year, you help the Tribune succeed more than you can know. Also, if every business and nonprofit would just take out small, regular ads, it really would help. Volume and frequency work for us.

We have exciting new things coming up: New subscribers are entered into a drawing for free Giants tickets. And we aren’t forgetting our faithful longtime subscribers. Look for the PACIFICA TRIBUNE stamp in your home delivery newspaper; your name will be entered in the drawing.

We’ve invited a new summer intern to join us: Ryan Ball, a 24-year-old Pacifica native and aspiring writer. He will entreat other young Pacificans to engage with the Tribune on issues that matter to them. Let’s hear from the younger generation.

For our readers and advertisers who prefer our online version, we have something for you, too. For example, Our "Best of Pacifica" landing page. CLICK HERE TO GO TO OUR WEBSITE powered by the San Jose Mercury-News (our sister paper). On the site is the Tribune's OUR TOWN page. When you click the page, you see all your local restaurants and businesses, and can connect immediately to their individual websites.

Look for more updates as your Pacifica Tribune editor and publisher moves into 21st-century digital technology. Check out our Pacifica Community Guide at the iTunes app store.

Pacifica Tribune Beefs Up Print & Web Content

The Pacifica Tribune has been an integral part of the community for more than 50 years, and has proven itself over and over as one of the main ways Pacificans learn about local news and events. I am proud to have been part of the Tribune for 24 years, and now head a team of hardworking colleagues who truly love this newspaper and community.

While the newspaper industry faces many challenges, the Tribune is lucky to have the loyalty and support of readers and local businesspeople who appreciate the way our newspaper can bring the community together.

This past year we’ve made several improvements to the newspaper and launched some fun, new contests and features to get even more people involved. The “Where is Edwin” contest is gaining in popularity as people try to guess local photographer Edwin Hacking’s “mystery spots” around town for a chance to win a free gourmet sandwich from Colombo’s Deli. Readers participate in our online polls and answer questions posed by Jean Bartlett in her popular front-page feature “Bartlett’s Bullets.”

We’re excited this week to launch a new contest for local merchants. People can fill out a form at participating businesses to purchase a one-year subscription for themselves or as a gift. For every 30 new subscriptions, merchants win a half-page, full-color ad in the Tribune. New subscribers are entered into a raffle for a chance to win vouchers for a free family four-pack of Oakland A’s baseball tickets to a 2011 game. Our current subscribers also have a chance to win A’s tickets. Every week, a selected number of home delivery newspapers will contain a hidden “Pacifica Tribune” stamp. Bring your stamped paper to the Tribune and we’ll enter your name in the raffle drawing.

The Tribune also is bringing back its popular business pages, spotlighting shopping areas in town – Rockaway Beach, Quarry Cove, Palmetto, Park Mall, and our neighbors down the coast. Every month a different business is featured with a story and photo.

Our online followers can catch breaking news posted daily on our PACIFICA TRIBUNE  website and linked to our Pacifica Tribune Facebook page, and then read even more details in our very next print edition. We encourage readers to visit our Facebook page and post comments, which we also publish for our print readers.

The Tribune strives to bring Pacificans a variety of news, including community happenings, fundraisers, sports, education, politics, and more. We’ve expanded our popular Police Beat column and now post it and letters to the editor online. Let us know what you like to read in your Pacifica Tribune. We want to hear from you.

ELAINE LARSEN

PUBLISHER AND EDITOR

elarsen@bayareanewsgroup.com

Pacifica Tribune on the Internet

Pacifica Tribune has a new Web site.

Pacifica Riptide Gets Ink in the Pacifica Tribune

The following article appeared on the Pacifica (Calif.) Tribune editorial page, February 20, 2008, courtesy of Tribune publisher and editor Elaine Larsen:

PACIFICA RIPTIDE: NEW WEBSITE COLLABORATES WITH TRIBUNE

Pacifica Riptide is a volunteer-run Web site for local news and opinion. It started up a year ago when a group of activists, fresh off their election victory over Measure L, decided that the community needed an Internet base for sharing information.

After consulting with several media and technology experts, including Pacifican Larry Rosenstein and Coastsider.com’s Barry Parr, we chose Six Apart’s Typepad blogging software, which is easy, intuitive, and relatively cheap for a bunch of amateurs to use.

Riptide welcomes contributions of  “hot stories, cool pix, and cold cash to keep us afloat,” according to the site. “We celebrate Pacifica's natural wonders, green hillsides, open spaces, coastal and marine life, and enterprising people. Our environment and economy are interdependent, natural forces and market forces, like ocean tides and waves.”

Anyone can post a story or photo by clicking "Email Me" on Riptide's top left sidebar. Also, anyone can click the comment link under any item on the site and post a comment or question. Riptide enforces strict rules for civility on all posts:

1. Speak freely, but please be brief and polite.
2. No name calling, no personal attacks. Period.
3. Stick to the issues. Just the facts, ma'am.
4. Pen names are OK if we know who you are.

Comments go through a moderator for approval (and editing, if necessary), so expect slight delays in posting.

Riptide features mainly local news and events but tracks important international, national, state, and regional stories that impact Pacifica. The site’s sidebar categories include travel, science, education, food and drink, music, sports, games, vital statistics, foreclosure watch, and true confessions. New additions to the site: Ian Butler’s humor column and Bruce Hotchkiss’ car advice column. Ian’s column posts on Riptide after it appears in Wednesday’s Tribune. Bruce’s car care column with questions and answers is written expressly for Riptide and has no connection with his Tribune automotive reviews.

Riptide runs on volunteer labor, but its domain name registration, Web hosting service, and blogging software fees are ongoing expenses. Sponsors and private donors help defray those costs. You can donate by clicking the “Help Riptide Stay Alive” box on the site’s top-left sidebar. Also, if you shop in the Amazon search box on the right sidebar, a percentage is returned to Riptide as a commission.

John the Sign Guy on Palmetto has created two ocean-themed t-shirt designs promoting Riptide. The City of Pacifica, Pacifica Net, Spindrift Players, Pacifica Performances, Sanchez Art center, and other organizations in town have linked to Riptide on their Web sites. Riptide in turn links to them and to a number of other local institutions and public services, including city and county government, transportation and emergency agencies, arts and music organizations, schools, weather and traffic reports, environmental groups, wildlife and humane concerns, and local businesses.

Pacifica Tribune publisher and editor Elaine Larsen has been supportive of Riptide, collaborating and consulting on local news. I continue to write my weekly Tribune column “Wandering and Wondering.” Elaine and I are friends and professional colleagues. We have agreed to cooperate, not compete, in covering the news and supporting local business. We hope to continue sharing resources to dig up hot-potato stories that everyone in town wants to read. Riptide can post breaking news as it happens, then drive readers to the Wednesday paper for more details and for advertising opportunities.

Riptide’s left sidebar features photo albums, and the work of local photographers (including Stephen Johnson and Mojo’s Coast) often appears on the site.

A monthly archive of Riptide content going back to March 2007 is on the left sidebar, allowing readers to search through thousands of stories and comments posted since we opened up shop. There is also a handsome black-and-white cat at the bottom of the right sidebar. As you surf our site, you might hear little Riptide purr and meow.

“We cover the waterfront” is our tagline. So go with the flow and see what’s happening at Pacifica Riptide. Then let us hear from you.

John Maybury
Editor and Publisher
Pacifica Riptide

TAKE NO PRISONERS!