The Interview

The following is a summary of the entire interview that took place Wednesday, April 21.

Questions provided by: Indeah Thomaier, Courtney McCabe and Kevin Falk

Answers provided by: Karen Diefendorf (Editor) and Julie Boselly (Publisher).

DEMOGRAPHICS (Indeah)

Q: Who works for your paper?

A: Julie Boselly is the publisher, her mother actually founded the paper but she died a couple of years ago, so Julie now owns the paper. Through that, she inherited a lot of the people who were already here. Otherwise, people just show up to write for the Woodinville Weekly. Currently, they have about eight or nine people working at the Woodinville Weekly. There are two writers, both of whom work at home, and one photographer. There has been some hiring throughout the years, for example, Don Mann was hired to cover sports.

Q: Do locals just write for the newspaper, or can someone who lives in Seattle write for the newspaper?

A: Karen indicated that people could send story ideas or stories in; the paper tends to deal with issues or events there, from Bothell to Kenmore. Then they have another paper that goes out monthly out to Duvall.

Q: What reasons do you hire a writer? What specifically do you look for when you see a written piece?

A: “Pretty doesn’t count,” Karen joked after our question was asked. Good grammar, punctuation, journalistic style, proper placement of information, accurate quoting sources, basically all the professionalism that journalist do is what they look for.

Q: Who is the newspaper’s primary audience?

A: Julie said that since they mostly do reporting on local events the majority of their audience aims towards people involved in Woodinville. However, they do report on other events that have a tie with Woodinville, such as upcoming entertainment.

Q: Do you have an age range for the audience?

A: No, generally the things in the newspaper are of interest to everyone.

Q: You guys said you only have one photographer, does your photographer have their own little business and you just work with them or do they work just for you?

A: She has her own business, but she does not work for any other newspaper Karen supplied helpfully. "Some people send us pictures, not always good ones, but people send us pictures.” Karen said.

CONTENT (Courtney)

Q: What kinds of stories does your paper write?

A: According to the editor, the Woodinville Weekly caters to their community by writing community based stories. Karen said that they do not do much work with stories outside of the Woodinville/Bothell area unless it has some impact on the community.

Q: What kind of education do most of your staff have/need?

A: Karen made it very clear that there were no education requirements for any of the staff but a background in writing proved to be helpful. Most of the writers came on casually and were not hired by their merits in writing but more their interest in the community.

Q: Does the newspaper run adds, and if so what kinds?

A: The Woodinville weekly does have a large selection of advertisements and most of them are for small businesses only. Karen did explain to us a fun new 'game' that the paper is starting with local businesses. Readers who get that paper will be able to participate in a scavenger hunt type game, where they go around and get stamps on a card from local companies and then enter to win a prize through the WW.

GEOGRAPHY (Kevin):

Q: Where do you guys distribute?

A: Unless someone has a prescription, the newspaper is directly mailed to all of Woodinville, countertop to Bothell and Kenmore.

Q: Where does the newspaper get most of its story ideas?

A: Julie prompted that the community can call in, send them emails, or usually they go to the actual event and ask what’s going on. Karen added that the newspaper is a very collaborative piece. The writers themselves have contact with school districts, other cities, etc. “Some weeks we struggle to find a story. Our writers call in asking ‘do you have anything you want me to write about?'” Julie Boselly said laughing.

Q: Where do you get your writers to write the stories?

A: The writers they have tend to stay anyway, so they don’t have a big turn over.

PUBLICATION CYCLE (Courtney):

Q: How long has the paper actually been publishing?

A: Thirty-four years.

Q: Since you are a Weekly newspaper, what are the deadlines?

A: Thursdays at noon for the writers to have their stories turned in. The newspaper gets published on Mondays.

ORIGINS (Indeah)

Q: Why print this paper?

A: This newspaper is fun, exciting and it’s different everyday. It’s fun to know what is going on in the community, but because the newspaper is a weekly they might “know” first but they won’t get it in print first. The strength of the community newspaper is the link between the community and it’s newspaper. Members of the community become excited if they see their kid in the newspaper. “I’ll pick up 20 copies because my son is in there, and the pictures only about… this big.” Julie Boselly admitted later.

Q: Why would people rather write at this newspaper, as oppose to Seattle Times?

A: People want to write stories related to something that affects them personally. They won’t write about what’s happening in other countries; they want their friends to see their name in the newspaper.

PARTICIPATION (Kevin):

Q: How do you guys distribute, do you guys have a paperboy?

A: Yeah, Daren mails it out. He makes a run and cleans out and retakes newspaper stands every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.

Q: Is your online paper more popular than your actual newspaper?

A: The online paper is more popular now, Julie said. To website was changed last year so it’s nicer and easier to work with.

IMPORTANCE (Kevin):

Q: What brought you personally to the newspaper?

Karen answered that she was an English teacher and worked for twenty-seven years. “And then I went to a party and met Julie’s mother, and after a couple glasses of wine…” Karen said with laughter following her statement. She first started out doing more human-interest stories, then one day the editor left so she took over the position.

MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS (questions that popped up):Q: Can students distribute to your newspaper, and if so how would they do that?

A: Sure, Ken said, they would have to email it in. Usually what they should do is call in to make sure the story hasn’t been run already.

Q: Do you guys have a certain writing style that you use?

A: The paper uses the AP style of writing.

Q: Is that a community cat or a regular cat just sitting there?

A: Maggie belongs to Julie. She got flooded out of her apartment a couple of years ago, now the office won’t let her take the cat home.

Favorite quote: Julie admitted, "Sometimes people will come in and ask, 'are you guys weight watchers' because of the WW in front of our main entrance."