The City of Seattle will have one less newspaper to printbeginning tomorrow.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which has chronicled the news of the city since logs slid down its steep streets to the harbor and miners caroused in its bars before heading north to Alaska's gold fields, will print its final edition Tuesday.It will be interesting to see if the PI can survive online. Whatever the result is, it will be felt throughout the newspaper industry.Hearst Corp., which owns the 146-year-old P-I, said Monday that it failed to find a buyer for the newspaper, which it put up for a 60-day sale in January after years of losing money. Now the P-I will shift entirely to the Web.
"Tonight will be the final run, so let's do it right," publisher Roger Oglesby told the newsroom.
Hearst's decision to abandon the print product in favor of an Internet-only version is the first for a large American newspaper, raising questions about whether the company can make money in a medium where others have come up short.
There is another newspaper ceasing publication this week.
For nearly 140 years, the Tucson Citizen has told the stories of Southern Arizona, but on Saturday, the state's oldest newspaper will tell its last -- its own. Gannett Co. Inc., the nation's largest newspaper publisher, announced in January it would close the Citizen if it didn't find a buyer for certain assets. Robert J. Dickey, president of Gannett's U.S. Community Publishing, said the paper was losing money and was a drain on Gannett operations.I'm surprised a city the size of Tuscon could maintain two newspapers this long. Overall the closure of the Citizen and the Seattle PI going online only can't be seen as anything but bad news. Fewer news providers isn't likely to produce a better product and there will be more opportunity for both slipshod reporting or biased work having an adverse effect on a community.
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Comments (15)
Bill, dude..put down the Re... (Below threshold)1. Posted by Pretzel Logic | March 16, 2009 3:43 PM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Bill, dude..put down the Red Bull and back away from the keyboard....
1. Posted by Pretzel Logic | March 16, 2009 3:43 PM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on March 16, 2009 15:43
2. Posted by Anon Y. Mous | March 16, 2009 3:48 PM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
I disagree that it's bad news for the PI to go online only. Most consumers of print journalism get the product online, not in print. This is the future for the newspaper industry, and the sooner they stop wasting money printing a product that that is not being consumed, the better.
2. Posted by Anon Y. Mous | March 16, 2009 3:48 PM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on March 16, 2009 15:48
3. Posted by Parthenon | March 16, 2009 3:50 PM | Score: -8 (8 votes cast)
Who's the first to jump in and say it's because they're too librul?
3. Posted by Parthenon | March 16, 2009 3:50 PM |
Score: -8 (8 votes cast)
Posted on March 16, 2009 15:50
4. Posted by _Mike_ | March 16, 2009 4:03 PM | Score: 5 (5 votes cast)
Who's the first to jump in and say it's because they're too librul?
I was going to say it was because they were too slow to realize that their approach to business was failing.. but that's close enough.
4. Posted by _Mike_ | March 16, 2009 4:03 PM |
Score: 5 (5 votes cast)
Posted on March 16, 2009 16:03
5. Posted by Peter F. | March 16, 2009 4:08 PM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
It might be windy, rainy and cold today here in Seattle, but tomorrow is gonna be a bright, bright sunshiny day!
Now on the serious side:
Fewer news providers isn't likely to produce a better product and there will be more opportunity for both slipshod reporting or biased work having an adverse effect on a community.
Bill, you never read the PI, did you.
Bias, agenda-driven reporting and regurgitation of far-left wing policies and views was S.O.P. for the PI and its editorial board.
5. Posted by Peter F. | March 16, 2009 4:08 PM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on March 16, 2009 16:08
6. Posted by Clay | March 16, 2009 4:15 PM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
The market speaks, Bill. Deal with it.
6. Posted by Clay | March 16, 2009 4:15 PM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on March 16, 2009 16:15
7. Posted by GarandFan | March 16, 2009 5:17 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
My son lives in Tucson, he doesn't count it as a big loss.
7. Posted by GarandFan | March 16, 2009 5:17 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on March 16, 2009 17:17
8. Posted by Paul Hooson | March 16, 2009 5:57 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Paid ads are way down in nearly all print media right now, putting the future of many magazines and newspapers in danger.
8. Posted by Paul Hooson | March 16, 2009 5:57 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on March 16, 2009 17:57
9. Posted by Evil Pundit | March 16, 2009 6:32 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
It's all good news.
The media industry has become corrupted by political agendas. It needs to die out so that something better can take its place. And almost anything would be better.
9. Posted by Evil Pundit | March 16, 2009 6:32 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on March 16, 2009 18:32
10. Posted by SATerp | March 16, 2009 6:40 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
When I lived in Tucson over 10 years ago, the conservative Tucson Citizen was far preferable to the far left Arizona Red (Daily) Star.
10. Posted by SATerp | March 16, 2009 6:40 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on March 16, 2009 18:40
11. Posted by OregonMuse | March 16, 2009 7:59 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Too bad the P-I couldn't make up revenue by selling tranny hooker ads, like the Village Voice does.
11. Posted by OregonMuse | March 16, 2009 7:59 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on March 16, 2009 19:59
12. Posted by glenn | March 16, 2009 8:46 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
And I'm here to tell you, living is a one newspaper town is paradise on earth. No unpleasant diversity, no differences of opinion about substantative issues and no unpleasant stories about bothersome things like political corruption. Go to the "A" parties, print the press releases and have lunch with the pols. Nice gig.
12. Posted by glenn | March 16, 2009 8:46 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on March 16, 2009 20:46
13. Posted by James Cloninger | March 16, 2009 11:30 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
"Tonight will be the final run, so let's do it right," publisher Roger Oglesby told the newsroom.
Huh...if they had been "doing it right" (i.e. proper journalism) all along, this wouldn't be their final run.
13. Posted by James Cloninger | March 16, 2009 11:30 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on March 16, 2009 23:30
14. Posted by 914 | March 17, 2009 4:52 AM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
'Tonight will be the final run,so lets do it right."
In other words, lets print real news instead of the leftwing marxist driven screed we've been voiding all these years.
14. Posted by 914 | March 17, 2009 4:52 AM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on March 17, 2009 04:52
15. Posted by WildWillie | March 17, 2009 8:54 AM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Look at the bright side, the editors are devout Catholics. ;) ww
15. Posted by WildWillie | March 17, 2009 8:54 AM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on March 17, 2009 08:54