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Nancy Smith

Online Opinion Magazine Florida Voices Readying for Late-November Start

November 3, 2011 - 7:00pm

Florida newspapers, once so full of journalists of real substance and consequence, are rapidly shedding or shrinking their community voices -- their editorial boards.

It's all part of a foundering American newspaper industry, and the great shame of it all, says Rosemary Goudreau, is that opinion writers are increasingly the casualties of choice in today's newsroom.

"Editorial boards today are one-half to one-third the size they were just a decade ago," says Goudreau, a 32-year veteran newspaper woman and former editorial page editor at the Tampa Tribune.

"They are missed, too," she says. "Editors and publishers tell me that all the time. A newspaper's opinion is the mirror of a community. It reflects where we've been, where we are and where we're going."

To facilitate what she calls "a restart to the conversation," Goudreau and her partner Rosemary Curtiss will launch a new media company, a free online niche publication they call Florida Voices: The State Opinion Page.

Curtiss was formerly publisher of the Tampa Tribune's Pasco edition.

Says Goudreau, "We are all about opinion, we won't be presenting news."

She claims the site will launch by the end of November, ultimately offering a lineup of 12 columnists. Right now, she says, "we have seven -- all journalists from across the state, plus a state senator who has a journalism education. I'm being very deliberate in getting a stable of politically diverse people."

Florida Voices columnists signed up and ready to go are --

  • Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, term-limited after 2012, will offer an insider's look at how Tallahassee works. Though the only nonjournalist participating, Dockery has a masters degree in mass communication from the University of Florida. Goudreau served as press secretary for Dockery's 2010 gubernatorial campaign until the senator dropped out of the race.
  • Lloyd Brown, former editorial page editor of the Jacksonville Times-Union, whom Goudreau identifies as the one true-conservative writer on board so far.
  • Tom O'Hara, formerly managing editor of the Palm Beach Post.
  • Florence Snyder, a Tallahassee-based corporate lawyer and columnist who has spent most of her career in and around newspapers. She also consults on ethics and First Amendment issues.
  • Angel Castillo Jr., attorney and former editor of El Nuevo Herald.
  • Marty Merzer, former senior writer with The Miami Herald.
  • Mary Jo Melone, former metro editor and columnist for the St. Petersburg Times.
  • Susan Clary, former investigative reporter and columnist for the St. Petersburg Times and reporter and writer for the Orlando Sentinel.

Journalist-businesswoman Goudreau says she and Curtiss are running the site with "traditional journalism values" and "bootstrapping" the startup operation themselves. Staff columnists will not be paid to begin. The only paid employees will be two editors.

"We aren't going to be advertising-dependent," she explains. "We hope our income will be based on syndicating columns for large and small newspapers, offering services for PR agencies facing business disruption, and publication of a services directory."

Florida Voices will include aggragated opinion material from newspapers and new media sites, letters to the editor, and an "engagement" feature in which key people will be asked to answer questions on hot topics, from immigration to homeowners insurance.

With the demise of so many vibrant opinion pages in Florida, Goudreau asks, where will the next generation find the free and obstreperous press on which every healthy democracy depends? She is hoping Florida Voices will do its part "to keep the conversations going."

Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.

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