Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper goes Web-only
SEATTLE: 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.
Seattle becomes the second major city to lose a newspaper this year, following Denver, as many U.S. dailies face uncertain futures, battered by quickly declining ad revenue in the age of the Internet and a teetering economy.
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.
The P-I's roots date to 1863, when Seattle was still a frontier town. It will now shift to another frontier for newspapers: entirely to the Web.
"Tonight will be the final run, so let's do it right," publisher Roger Oglesby told the newsroom.
The last print edition began rolling off the presses at a suburban printing plant shortly after 10 p.m. Monday. The front page featured a headline saying, "You've meant the world to us," and a photo of the 30-foot neon globe atop the P-I's building, which has a slogan rotating around the equator saying, "It's in the P-I."
The paper was to be delivered wrapped with 20 to 24 pages of photos and stories on the P-I's history.
Hearst's move to end the print edition leaves the P-I's larger rival, The Seattle Times, as the only mainstream daily in the city. The Times plans to deliver a copy of the newspaper to every P-I subscriber on Wednesday morning, spokeswoman Jill Mackie said.
The Rocky Mountain News in Denver closed earlier this month after its owner, E.W. Scripps Co., couldn't find a buyer. In Arizona, Gannett Co.'s Tucson Citizen is set to close Saturday, leaving one newspaper in that city.
And last month Hearst said it would close or sell the San Francisco Chronicle if the newspaper couldn't slash expenses in coming weeks.
The U.S. newspaper industry has seen ad revenue fall in recent years as advertisers migrate to the Internet, particularly to sites offering free or low-cost alternatives for classified ads. Starting last summer, the recession intensified the decline in advertising revenue in all categories.
Four newspaper companies, including the owners of the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and The Philadelphia Inquirer, have sought bankruptcy protection in recent months.
Hearst's decision to abandon the Post-Intelligencer's newspaper format 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.
While the P-I's Web site ensures it a continued presence in the Seattle news market, it will likely be a pared-down version of its former self — with a heavy reliance on blogs and links to other news outlets.
The P-I had 181 employees, but Managing Editor David McCumber said the Web site would employ about 20 in the newsroom operation and another 20 to sell ads. He said he would not be working on the new site.
Meanwhile, with backing from three entrepreneurs, staffers of the recently shuttered Rocky Mountain News plan to start an online news publication if they can get 50,000 paying subscribers by April 23 — what would have been the News' 150th anniversary.
The local venture, InDenverTimes.com, would go live on May 4 if backers meet their subscription goal.
source:Herald Tribune
