Two weeks ago, the Hearst corporation said they would try to sell the newspaper. If they were unable to find a buyer in sixty days, they will close the newspaper, or, possibly, convert it to a web-only newspaper.
This will surprise some, but I hope that the PI survives, with all its faults. And I hope that its competitor and partner, the Seattle Times, with all its faults, also survives. Despite their faults — and I have said much about their faults over the years — we are better off with two major newspapers in this area, rather than just one, or even none.
Both newspapers continue to do investigative work that would hard to duplicate. Recently, the PI did an interesting series on problems in the honey market, and the Times did a powerful series on MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) infections in Washington state's hospitals. Both investigations would be hard for individuals, without press credentials, to do.
So I hope both newspapers survive, though both would be better off under different ownership.
Cross posted at Jim Miller on Politics.
(You can find accounts of the PI's problems here and here.
What about the two main alternative Seattle-area newspapers, the Seattle Weekly and the Stranger? I don't read either often enough to have a firm opinion on whether they are a net contributors to this area.)
Posted by Jim Miller at January 23, 2009 01:55 PM | Email ThisNope.
Not happening.
While I understand where you're coming from, Jim Miller, the P-I ceased being a viable, journalistic publication years ago. Essentially, you're saying you'd rather have two, steaming piles of feces on your lawn than one.
When an 'objective' media outlet - with a responsibility to the public - specifically goes out of its way to spit in the face of half of its potential audience - simply to prop up the politicians and policies its staff and managers support - it should die a hideous death.
The P-I has become nothing more than the same left-wing trash one can find at - as you mentioned - The Stranger and The Weekly.
I welcome its demise.
Posted by: jimg on January 23, 2009 02:33 PMBest of luck to those people there (even Connelly and Horsey, who I hope find jobs somewhere else).
And Jim, I can smell a cartoon contest about this.
Posted by: Palouse on January 23, 2009 02:33 PMThe Sporting News went web based with a every other week magazine. Pretty cool as I am just starting to read the daily. I hate the new printed one as, well, it doesn't do what the old one did.
And that is the key isn't it- holding government accountable and getting news out? Seeing as how my local daily doesn't have proper staffing, it just prints the government press releases, it hasn't been doing a good job either.
Sad to go, but I parted with my '58 Chevy, my transistor radio, my 8-track tape player, and my VCR.
But, be assured, something will rise in its place and it will be better than what we have now. After all, we are Americans and that is what Americans do- make life better.
Posted by: swatter on January 23, 2009 02:43 PMThe paper is totally corrupt as an entity and by extension it's employees are corrupt. I've met a heck of a lot them over the years and they are one and all hardcore leftists of the most virulent type - even those who were running the presses, back when they had people doing that.
They collectively made their bed, let them lie in it.
Posted by: JDH on January 23, 2009 02:47 PMMy give a darn is busted.
Watch: Media which is honest in critiquing the government and participates in actual journalistic examination will thrive.
The MSM folks today should have taken marcom jobs spinning shiny widgets to doe eyed dip stick college kids. Don't pass what the PI does as news. It stopped being insulting when everyone stopped reading it.
I have to give the Times credit- they have STARTED to show some flecks of honesty in covering Gregoire...3 1/2 years later.
I would say the same if the PI were the most conservative paper in the world - two papers are better than one. A one horse town is just not the same.
Posted by: correctnotright on January 23, 2009 03:19 PM..and How! You eradicate a cancer to let the body survive. The P-I has been a cancer on the body Journalism for 20+ years now and until it has been excised, don't expect ethical journalism to survive either.
Posted by: Rick D. on January 23, 2009 03:46 PMSorry, but I have no tears for them.
Posted by: Medic/Vet on January 23, 2009 04:13 PMI have it on good authority from and unnamed source that Kemper Freeman Jr. will purchase the Post Intelligencer...
Posted by: Don Ward on January 23, 2009 05:55 PMtechnology is not the entire reason; it's really content--and freedom of other choices of news & blogs & especially the other myriad of diversions like entertainment and cable; it's the mix of noise & stuff and our tendency to be lazy and not dig for ourselves (unless it's our personal issue);
once, the Model T car was only offered in black; same with papers; long ago they HAD to be good, being the only thing in town and every word was read & pondered for lack of alternatives;
that said, after staring at a computer monitor all day, it's still nice to quickly leaf through a paper or sit with a book/magazine for a mental change of pace--even if the paper's a tabloid quality rag; but---certainly not justifying a subscription's price;
PI alums will land on their feet and likely seek out their usual natural lib job-field callings; no tears here--
It's not like one paper provides one viewpoint and the other paper the opposing one. Both papers have no distinction in their editorial boards or newsy content. In short, there's absolutely nothing to differentiate one paper from the other.
In that case, there's no reason to have a 2 paper setup 'round here. I can read liberal claptrap from one and know that the other paper is reporting the same.
Posted by: SteveM on January 24, 2009 10:29 AM