Coupeville Sports

Photographic evidence of how the morons in Moosejaw deal with freelancers.

If we make it look fancy, maybe no one will notice we aren’t actually doing our job…

In a bold move to hide the fact the Canadian-funded papers of Sound Publishing are getting their rears handed to them on a regular basis in every town by the bloggers of America — generally operating out of underground bunkers on computers powered by two hamsters on an exercise wheel — the powers that be in Moosejaw have launched a web site paint job for nearly all their corporate rags.

All three of Whidbey’s papers are sportin’ a semi-spiffy new look today — without explanation, which might be a good thing since the Renton Reporter, operating without spell check or an editor in the room, led their story thusly:

The Renton Reporter website for the is getting a fresh look that will help readers get faster access to local news — and more of it.

I promise, I changed not a word. Now that’s some good filthy Canuck lucre well spent.

Being naive and ever-hopeful, I tripped over to the Whidbey Examiner site, my home away from home for many years. Perhaps the update had corrected that moment a year ago when the Evil Empire had erased hundreds of my by-lined stories with the flick of a programmer’s finger.

Perhaps all those hours, all those snappy leads, all that work largely done for free, would have reappeared.

And … nope.

Type my name into the Examiner and it tells you I wrote exactly one story for them.

And somewhere up in Manitoba a programmer scratches his (or her) butt with the same finger that helped me launch this blog in righteous indignation. Maybe this time they will finally get that elusive itch.

They’ll certainly be well-paid for their time.