Crosscut lasted nearly two decades before its sudden end by the decision of its owner, Cascade PBS. Some have suggested that the loss of the local journalism staff is a nail in the coffin for not-for-profit local news. I disagree. The model worked successfully here with Crosscut, and it is working in other cities.
When Crosscut was independent, it survived two near-death financial crises thanks to a plucky band of donors, volunteers and journalists motivated by the belief that high-quality, local journalism would make our community a better place. Crosscut pioneered in-depth coverage on issues like homelessness, kept The Seattle Times on its toes and helped train many successful journalists.
But no plucky band could come to its rescue a third time, as Cascade PBS management decided to dissolve the ”long form” news staff — Crosscut — without advance notice to the public or even most of the board.
I had a front-row seat to the long rise and sudden death of Crosscut, serving as one of its board members from 2009 until it was acquired by KCTS in 2015. I joined the Cascade Public Media board of directors last year.
We should mourn Crosscut’s demise. Freedom of the press only matters if there is a press left to be free. Journalism holds those in power accountable and helps nurture the values of citizenship essential to democracy.
We should next honor Crosscut’s legacy. Let its loss be a call for the next generation of plucky citizens to replicate in Seattle the success other regions have found in supporting not-for-profit local journalism.
When I was asked to join the Crosscut board in 2009, it faced near-death experience No. 1. Crosscut had been founded two years earlier as a for-profit news site by David Brewster, who founded and then sold the successful Seattle Weekly. Also driving the vision was Tom Alberg, one of our community’s great civic leaders and a founding board member of Amazon. Their for-profit model did not work, so Crosscut became a community-sponsored news site.
Near-death experience No. 2 came in 2012, when large grants from the Gates and Knight foundations expired. These grants represented about two-thirds of Crosscut’s budget. But within about a year, Crosscut had mostly replaced these grants with funding from diverse sources, including more than 1,200 individual community members.
Crosscut thrived as a source of independent, quality local journalism. Our editorial team invited local experts to discuss issues with the board, like the sudden rise in homelessness in 2013-14. These community discussions helped Crosscut punch above its financial weight by focusing on coverage that could have an impact on the community.
In its last year as an independent news organization, 2015, Crosscut won 10 of the 22 Northwest Excellence Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for newsrooms its size, including the categories of crime and justice; government and politics; health reporting; and investigative reporting.
Independent Crosscut was succeeding but lacked the financial capital to grow, and local PBS affiliate KCTS wanted to complement national programming like “Masterpiece,” “Nova” and the “PBS NewsHour.” The two not-for-profits merged in late 2015. KCTS turned longtime journalist Knute Berger — with his lumberjack shirts and billowing hair — into a television star with a show on Northwest history and culture.
Cascade PBS management said last week that it cut nearly the entire “long form” journalism team — Crosscut — in response to federal cuts to public media funding. I know how hard the Cascade PBS team has worked to address the loss of federal funding and how difficult these decisions have been. The good news is that Cascade PBS was receiving unprecedented public support. But there was much uncertainty about whether this support would continue. Crosscut was cut because of this uncertainty, not because it was failing.
Meanwhile, successful nonprofit news has sprung up around the country, competing with for-profit newsrooms. Statewide sites like The Texas Tribune and Bridge Michigan, and local sites like The Baltimore Banner and Block Club Chicago, are being joined by The Spokesman-Review and The Salt Lake Tribune, for-profit papers-turned-nonprofits.
Cascade PBS’ decision to end Crosscut’s two decades of success is not the end of not-for-profit news in Seattle or anywhere else. We can turn that decision into an inspiration; it is an opportunity to get another plucky band together to support quality journalism in our community.
