EUREKA, Calif. – The North Coast Journal has tapped veteran San Francisco Chronicle reporter Tom Abate to lead an ambitious expansion that will fuse the paper’s weekly print edition with its continuous online coverage. The goal is to develop a hybrid form of journalism to better serve readers and advertisers in Humboldt County and perhaps become a model for other alternative papers.
Hank Sims, who has been the Journal‘s editor for nearly six years and created its cutting-edge website, will play a crucial role in this evolutionary process by working with Abate as web editor and senior staff writer while also continuing his popular weekly column, the Town Dandy.
Abate, a daily newspaper reporter since 1992, is returning to Humboldt County where he lived during the 1980s and co-founded the Journal in 1990.
Journal Publisher Judy Hodgson said the new hire represents a major reinvestment in the newspaper and its nascent website.
“While newspapers across the country have been cutting staff and downsizing, the Journal has continued to grow and gain market share. We’ve doubled in size in the last six years,” she said. “To separate the duties of editor and web editor is a natural progression of growth for the paper.”
Abate and wife, Mia Ousley, founded the North Coast Journal in January 1990 as a monthly. But shortly after they launched the paper Abate, bitten by the daily journalism bug, accepted a series of scholarships to the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. After producing just six editions, Abate and Ousley sold the fledgling monthly to a trio of businesswomen — Hodgson, Carolyn Fernandez and Rose Welsh — who at the time owned an advertising agency called Adworks.
Within two years, that company split. Welsh continued with the ad agency and Hodgson and Fernandez became co-owners of the Journal. In 1998, the monthly was successfully converted to a weekly covering all of Humboldt County. The paper currently has a circulation of 21,000.
Just last year the newspaper celebrated its 20th anniversary and announced that three key employees had become stockholders. They are Sims, Arts and Entertainment Editor Bob Doran and Sales Manager Mike Herring.
The Journal is a member of the California Newspaper Publishers Association and has won more than three dozen awards in the past 10 years. It is also a member of the national Association of Alternative Newsweeklies based in Washington, D.C.
Abate has had a distinguished career in daily journalism. He earned his graduate degree from Columbia in 1991, where he was awarded one of the school’s three top prizes, a Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship. In June 1992, he joined the Hearst-owned San Francisco Examiner as a staff writer covering science and technology. In 1997 he moved next door to the San Francisco Chronicle, where he penned columns on technology (Digital Bay) and biotechnology (Bioscope) before becoming the paper’s economics reporter with a special focus on the culture of innovation in Silicon Valley.
A native of New York and a veteran of the United States Navy, Abate was twice nominated for Pulitzer Prizes for his coverage of biotechnology, and is the author of a book (The Biotech Investor). Abate, who resigned his Chronicle position last week in a teary farewell to his Chronicle newsroom colleagues, said he is thrilled to be returning to Humboldt County where he still owns a homestead in Bayside.
“Second chances are rare, and this one is incredible: to use what I’ve learned in Silicon Valley to invent new ways of doing journalism in a community I love,” said Abate, who is eager to re-connect with old friends and former business associates.
This article appears in Search and Suspend.
He better be at least half the dork hank is. OR ELSE!!!
Sincere two cents: Maintain no site registration or facebook account or similar required to comment on the NCJ blog. The freedom of anonymity (as close as it gets, anyway) is slowly fading across the board. Internet-wise, mandatory site registrations, as loopholed as they can be, are further restrictions on free speech and press.
Exciting! I can’t wait to see what manifests. Good luck yo!
I have always enjoyed Hank’s columns. Though often controversial, as an opinion columnist I think he is top notch and the first thing I read in the NCJ every week. That being said, I believe that he has made some very questionable decisions as editor of NCJ and I agree that a change was needed.
Mr. Abate is a seasoned professional journalist who graduated from one of the top journalism schools in the country as well as spending close to 20 years working as an award winning writer for one of the top newspapers in the country.
Combined with his love (and a true love it is) for Humboldt County, I am looking forward to the changes he will bring. Will he be right all the time? I doubt it. But will he make NCJ a better paper? I’ll bet on it.
I readily admit that Tom is a close friend of mine. So while I am biased in my respect for him, I have also been reading his columns and following his career since 1992 when he started writing for The Examiner. He is a man of ideas and energy. And I think this is a logical step both for his career and for NCJ.
I congratulate Judy on her choice. I look forward to the changes it will bring.
I disagree that hank’s made poor editorial decisions…as often as I disagree with his perceptions in the dandy. I definitely appreciate his accessiblity and immediate, informal correspondence on this blog. I do think the staff in general is somehow wary of ruffling any feathers among the obvious movers and shakers of the area.
Unfortunately Tom is not going to be a good addition to the journal. He’s a rather lazy reporter who repeats spoonfed items as if they were fact. I don’t always agree with Hank, but at least he does his own homework and reaches his own conclusion. Hank can usually come pretty close to some stories, whereas Tom misses the mark.
This is exciting. Tom Abate and Hank will team up to put the Journal on the cutting edge. Great times for Humboldt newsies.
Better look out Andrew, you are NOT towing the line………..
Naw just toss in twitter feeds then and do away with the 4chan-/b/-status comment forms.
Sure you’re right. For serious, do you even read the Chron?
The Journal is lucky to get a journalist of Tom Abate’s stature and skills. I know of no harder working journalist, nor one who has a deeper understanding of the practices and principles of journalism.
um…. ya, so does everyone get to drink Judys vino for free?
I’ve never drank a drop.
It’s good to see you back, Tom. You and Hank will make a great team.
Welcome back and welcome aboard. Looking forward to it.
Well Captain Crunch, I’m glad to see you’re keeping an open mind about it.
Nosisms would be the least of our concerns. And as Mark Twain wrote, “… kings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial ‘we’.” Mr. Abate falls neatly into at least one of those categories.
… after this audio snipet one might really think of a ‘redo’ on a number of levels.
Probably the most abrasive interactions I have heard on local radio…er… welcome aboard…
http://www.kslg.com/node/597
In the interview, Abate describes the… transition… as “sub-optimal.”
I suppose that’s the most apt description possible on radio, as “bullshit” and “clusterfuck” aren’t allowed per FCC regs.
All the Abatistas should give that interview a listen before crowing about the new possibilities and teamwork. Anyone else interested in the imminent decline of local journalism should, too.
I disagree, marcus. I caught the interview by chance this morning while driving. I couldn’t help but laugh…that DJ is great, but way too apologetic, and Abate took it funky or something…what a strange dynamic between them…and yeah…it sounded like Judy and Abate didn’t really know what htey were going to say from the get go. “Hybrid Journalism”…I agree, bullshit. Cellphone addicts can now twitter their blog posts. Woohoo.
If he’s that down to talk straight, more power to him. Look at how ridiculously little our local politicos talk to us. All we get is prepared statements or, at best, brief interviews where they respond with…prepared statements. Typical crap.
The bottom line for me is…I don’t give a fuck about the Journal staff’s personal relationships, I don’t give a shit about incorporating more bells and whistles into the blogging process, and I don’t give a fucking shit about the Journal as a “business”. I’d like to see the Journal staff start really asking some questions that couldn’t warrant a prepared response. The Journal is media printed en masse, and thus carries the power of public persuasion.
Honestly, I’m not holding my breath waiting for them to grow some balls, confront newly elected politicos about important issues, and bring matters no matter how uncomfortable to really have a POSITIVE effect on Humboldt. Start weeding out the bullshit. Too much back patting, too much smiley happy shlock regarding really important shit…it just means he who has the most money wins every time. Shady business in Humboldt politics right now, the forests and the beaches and the simple living folks who live here are battered enough.
This site is bootsie on my Droid X. Y’all got some kinna app? I’m about to get that Nexus S whenever Verizon has it, so make this app flashy as hell. Thx in adv bruh.
I haven’t read all these comments, nor do I know what’s going on with all this. But, I just listened to the interview on KSLG. Are you kidding me?
What’s Droid X, Mr. Nice? Some new strain? I hear that Nexus S shite takes too long to flower for coastal outdoors around here. Verizon’s got quality nugs, but you get a way better deal at the Sprint dispensary. hillbillies these days…
I would not describe myself as pro or anti Hank. I like some of what he has done and some rubs me the wrong way. Regardless, Abate could not have gotten off to a worse start. His part of what should have been a straight forward interview was weirdly aggressive and disjunct. Comments about middle aged men and his 30 year marrage were inappropriate and irrevelant. I’m sorry he has had some difficult times but it’s not really my problem. To be fair, Abate has represented himself to be writer and editor not a radio host. As such he was clearly out of his element. First impressions are important but not the end of the world. I hope the ride gets smoother for him. Anyway, Tom, welcome back to Humboldt. Best wishes and warmest regards for a happy and productive future.
I agree with everything Anonymous 8:29 wrote.
Having a hysterical meltdown on the radio is not a good start to Mr. Abate’s reign.
He sounds like a self involved pompous jerk.
Yeah… so poor Abate, fresh from divorce and job failure in the big city, but for whom personal outranks professional, takes a job offer than involves him keeping secrets from the man he’s replacing and the staff he’s to supervise… goes on the radio to explain and attacks the host… sounds like one class fucking act so far.
If Mr. Abate’s intention was “to distance [himself] from any criticism, reproach or even any public discussion of the new editorial lineup,” in that KSLG interview, he sure had an odd way of going about it.
Good morning, Humboldt: listened to the KSLG interview; read many of comments; heard criticisms; some unfortunately all too justified (anger, meltdown, TMI, enough with you!); sinking feeling in pit of stomach not hunger; OK, time to learn again that I am a better writer than radio person; that I really do need to think before I speak; I hope the people of the North Coast are okay with those who learn from mistakes, provided iof course that I not to repeat the same errors.
I’m glad you’re hearing what we heard, Tom. Those of us with vested interest in the NCJ are hoping for this new direction to be a successful venture. However, serious doubts have been cast if this performance is a sign of the future broadcast media alliances and hybrid journalism of which you and Judy speak.
Look at it this way, Tom. You made the rest of us all look a bit better.
Seriously, I think a lot of people can read between the lines and recognize that the Journal’s owners totally screwed up this transition. I can tell that you were trying (and failing… badly…) to avoid letting that be the focus.
If you can use some of that “no bullshit” attitude to investigate the pols and others who’ve been getting a free ride from the Bambi press, I’ll be rooting for you.
But please don’t sing.
Hi Tom, Lisa from TriNet… I returned from maternity leave to learn you have a new role! Congrats and welcome back to your roots. I’m glad we had the chance to work together. Good luck to you!
Abates should crawl back into the pathetic hole he came from. Nice move “enhancing” a publication by hiring an editor who takes a job through backroom negotiation, who publicly bellyaches about his divorce as an excuse for his lack of ethics, who insults the public as a defense mechanism, and who can’t handle simple journalistic questions without spewing anger and buffoonery? Not a good move for your publication. Your lack of integrity makes us wonder, “do you have a stupid publisher? Am I allowed to say that?”
Hey Tom, welcome. Don’t worry not everyone is a………..
Doesn’t anybody read comic books anymore? Newspaper editors are always ornery.
Whoa, Tom. You are a good writer! And that 84-word, one-sentence comment proves it!
Awesome use of the semi-colon, dude; for sure what the Journal needs is fewer periods and–let me spool it out for you–you’re clearly the man for the job.
Dude, have you ever heard of this technological innovation called a “spell checker?”; let me spool it out for you: When you write something like “iof” in your post, a red line appears under the word; that doesn’t mean it’s awesome (but it totally should!); it means you made a spelling mistake.
I’m no expert, but I don’t think “provided iof course that I not to repeat the same errors” is–let me spool it out for you–proper English.
OMG, I totally get it. You were being funny, dude, writing one long, Joycean sentence about what a great writer you are while making spelling and grammatical mistakes. Very funny, Tom. You ARE the future of the Journal, dude.
Welcome back, Tom. A little humility will go a long way in improving our new, improvable NCJ. I hope you’ve got that covered now!
I look forward to reading more deeply engaged, broadly relevant news in the Journal again. I don’t understand the obstacles, but lots of us see the problem clearly. Good life, and good luck.
If you knew Tom Abate from his previous stay in Humboldt (and I only met him a few times), you would know that he is VERY New York/New Jersey: in-your-face, aggressive, confrontational, talkative. Just the opposite of laid-back Humboldt cool. Tom also was a caffeine fiend.
While I wasn’t impressed by Tom’s responses, I wasn’t impressed by the interviewer either. His emphasis on personal stuff (e.g. “How did Hank react? Did his face go white?” “Why did you post a blog about your divorce?” etc) seemed to me to reflect the worst aspects of modern journalism: focusing on titillating gossipy stuff instead of dealing with the truly substantive issues. Sort of like rags you see at the supermarket checkout counter.
Tom could have dealt with these questions much better and adultly by simply saying “I don’t want to discuss that”, “I feel that’s off-topic”, or “That’s really no one else’s business.”
I like Tom Abate more since y’all hating on him for any kinna dumb reason like caffeine. I sip grams of that oolong and I ain’t about nothing but that Humboldt County cool shit.
Rumbustious @7:48, you said it. One word describing this: ‘Exactly.’
Two more words describing Mr. Sims, Mr. Burns, Ms. Walters (and other staff, you know who yuo are) holding down the Journal with their superb writing on complex issues: ‘You Rock.’
…Mr. Nice, keep staying cool.
Good luck to you in the new role.
“No problem can be solved in the same consciousness that created it. We must learn the see the world anew.”
-Albert Einstein
Very well said, UT.
Just went to the Community Radio Day workshop sponsored by Access Humboldt on Saturday. Ethics were covered; and while Mr. Abate was not, most were aware of this explosive interview, the changes at NCJ, and the impact of both radio and ‘hybrid journalism’.
For the record, the very capable and articulate livewire Terri Klemeston at KMUD news rocked the workshop while explaining their soon-to-be expanded news coverage and hybrid journalism for Northern Humboldt.
Skippy’s brief report on Access Humboldt, the Community Radio Day workshop, the call for volunteers, and the 7 station radio consortium attending for readers is here at the Humboldt Herald.
The radio/audio clip of Mr. Abate can also be found easily at the top of the column, too.
The listener can come to their own ‘ethic vs. ethnic’ conclusion. Point well taken, UT. Thank you.
…peace, skips
John Mathews loves to play “gotch-ya” as much if not more the Sims and Burns. If Tom’s smart, he will NOT go back on that show ever, as it will only be a set up to get his guard down, so that John can try to trip him up again. Not to excuse Tom’s defensive nature and over reaction, but there in nothing to be gained by dealing with folks like John, or Hank or Ryan.
Not Bob, you are totally right. You know what I really hate? When John hides around the corner at the radio station and then jumps out and yells, “Boo!” Totally gets me every time.
It was especially super sneaky how John mindcontrolled Tom into bringing up his divorce and depression and singing and stuff. That guy! Grrrr!
Just ignore the haters, Tom. You bring a lot of positives to the Journal.
Asshole is as asshole does. Hating, in this case, really is beside the point.
Hey, I don’t know Tom (yet), but I do know radio and this greatest moments clip from the KSLG interview is gold.
Jennifer!
If the listener thought the previous interview was akin to a bracing shot of Jack Daniels– Jennifer’s above post of the shaken-up remix is more like a few extra jolts of… Everclear.
Jennifer, you cheeky monkey, you.
There’s no such thing as bad publicity in the media business, only more. No blood, no foul.
Mr. Matthews, Mr. Abate, and the NCJ may very well go viral after the Youtube video hits. Jumping the shark won’t be happening anytime soon, I trust.
Mr. Sims, thankfully you stayed out of this. Thank goodness.
Someday, in a perfect universe, we’ll all be laughing about this together, later.
Publisher, Judy Hogdson writes, “To separate the duties of editor and web editor is a natural progression of growth for the paper.” Great, as long as before you make such a drastic move you tell folks (at least the NCJ staff) that’s what you are doing. At the end of the day you’re the owner and you make the decisions… you have the right to keep your staff in the dark and surprise them all (including the current editor) with the new hiring of your old friend. It doesn’t really matter if the new hire is one of the founders, the point is this was all done in secret and that is shameful.
Regardless of whether you like or dislike Sims, or even Abate, the whole NCJ shake-up was tacky. Maybe the move was inevitable, but I think the Publisher/ Owners could have shown a little more class. Obviously some folks here are buying the “positive” move forward, but have ya’ll stopped to think about the route the Publisher took? How do NCJ staff members really feel about being blindsided? How would you feel?
Hey, they’re EMPLOYEES. That means they have no say. It’s none of their business. That’s the AMERICAN way!!!
Is it any wonder that the Journal has problems when the bold banner on it’s website homepage is nothing more than a link to a anonymous, vitrolic, blatantly partisan blog. Cutting edge journalism here, you betcha.
I for one am shocked that the Journal’s advertising base is little more than a couple casinos, a few restaurants, hydroponic/grow shops, and realtors catering to growers. Perhaps if there was at least an attempt to limit bias and pandering mainstream businesses wouldn’t be quite so prone to shunning the Journals pages. Probably be cheaper than a new editor too.
“you betcha?” I suppose that Anonymous would also like the Journal to “pander” to Sarah Palin supporters.
Sorry Joel, be as snide as you wish and I still don’t think real journalists shoud pander to anyone. Particularly a moronic bimbo. You certainly have found your true calling though. Unfortunately snide seems to be on tha outs at the Journal. Watch your back.
Sorry, Anonymous. I misread your “pandering” comment, and I’m still not sure whom the supposed “pandering” at the Journal is aimed at.
(….. and I still don’t think real journalists should pander to anyone. Particularly a moronic bimbo…)
Can this include ALL moronic bimbos?
Especially ones with adolescent money handling habits?
Sounds like the drooling adolescent (9:29) has a fixation. Do we need to alert the authorities?
Tommy,
Howzit in the hornet’s nest, you shit disturber.
Good luck to the pro I know.
wow… Judy, you really need a lesson on tact.
So, if it’s true that Hank Sims is leaving the Journal, what does it say that the news appears at the Herald before it appears at the Journal’s blog?
Mitch, it means that Hank tipped off Heraldo before Judy and Tom figured out how to deal with it. Funny the govt and big business always release bad news late on Fridays hoping it dies down over the weekend. Don’t know if that’s going to work here or not.
I’ve always read Hank Sims as being accessible, real, candid and the backbone of those attributes within the journal…whether I agreed with him or not…as well as the key to it being even more so in the future. After recent humboldt elections deceptions/insanity, I was hoping the paper to be on the precipise of addressing related issues wtih some genuine depth and integrity…and from everything I’ve read of Hank Sims, he’s more than capable of bringing it on. Is he giving up his stock in the paper as well? Unless this is an amicable “transition”, I’m more than a little disappointed in the move by the Journal to not only paint a different picture but to oust its main man.
On-going discussion here at the Herald.
Not so much discussion here at SoHum Parlance II.
As was said above:
“Having a hysterical meltdown on the radio is not a good start to Mr. Abate’s reign.
He sounds like a self involved pompous jerk.”
He starts off on the radio yelling at the DJ for talking about the past, than spends nearly 10 minutes talking about his past. WTF?
And lets not even get into the technicality of what he said about technology (python jango etc). Beyond laughable.
Is this the future of the NCJ…
I thought it was funny reading his comment here on the NCJ web site, saying please don’t be critical of me, yet. That is an open invitation to be just that, and even more than we would have without him asking us not to.
Dude, who is on the blogthing at 3 in the morning anyway?
“Comment / By tom abate / Jan. 27, 2:51 a.m.
As long as I’ve known Rick Levin this is the first time he has ever called me “Mr Abate.” Thanks. That said I wish to distance myself from any criticism, reproach or even any public discussion of the new editorial lineup….”
I trust that Trust (above) has never lost sleep worrying about work. Must be nice in his world.
trolls trolls trolls…hybrid journalism in action. Pretty lame, NCJ. VERY lame. You’ve lost my participation. Howzabout some honesty? Howzabout making a name for yourself through old school deep digging journalism instead…
“If journalists don’t invent ways to get paid for their services they are doomed to extinction”
-the new NCJ editor in chief
I finally got around to listening to the KSLuG interview. Wow.
Tom, you’re kind of a jerk.