Sorrow will reign tomorrow in Seattle ... it wll be the final day of publication of the Emerald City's oldest newspaper, the 146 year old Post-Intelligencer.
Reporters Dan Richman and Andrea James announced the paper's obituary-to-be on its website this morning:
"Tonight we'll be putting the paper to bed for the last time," Editor and Publisher Roger Oglesby told a silent newsroom Monday morning. "But the bloodline will live on."
In a very small way, we faithful readers of the P-I should feel slightly fortunate. The paper will have remained in print a few days longer than it might have if the Hearst Corporation had been as cut-throat as they could have been, had they so chosen:
On Jan. 9, New York-based Hearst put the Seattle P-I up for sale and said that the paper would stop printing if a buyer were not found within 60 days.
Despite community concern, no buyer emerged. The P-I lost $14 million last year.
We had a whole lot more warning than did readers of Denver's Rocky Mountain News, but it's still painful to see a major newspaper go under. It's still painful to see still another city drop down to a one-newspaper town ... and there's a very real possibility that we could soon be a zero-newpaper town, as the Seattle Times is also bleeding red ink. It's still painful when the more sensible, more involved, more insightful of the two dailies is the one that disappears tomorrow.
At last week's DrinkingLiberally, P-I columnist (and DL regular) Joel Connelly noted that he would soon be leaving for a vacation trip to Arizona to watch the Mariners in spring training and to do some desert hiking. He chuckled that it was rather odd to think that his "home" might not exist by the time he came back. Looks like he was right about that.
As was mentioned in the quote I put above the fold, the idea of the P-I isn't going to disappear completely. Hearst intends to produce something as a web-only effort, though they have stated very little publicly about its staffing, its mission, its extent, its business model. The article on the demise of the paper continues such non-specificity:
In a news release, Hearst CEO Frank Bennack Jr. said, "Our goal now is to turn seattlepi.com into the leading news and information portal in the region."
Steven Swartz, president of Hearst Newspapers, said in the release the Web site "isn't a newspaper online -- it's an effort to craft a new type of digital business with a robust, community news and information Web site at its core."
He continued: "The Web is first and foremost a community platform, so we'll be featuring new columns from prominent Seattle residents; more than 150 reader blogs, community databases and photo galleries. We'll also be linking to the great work of other Web sites and blogs in the community."
We tried to pin down Connelly as to whether he had been offered a position with the web P-I, and whether he would accept the offer if it had been made. Rumor had it that Hearst did present Joel with the opportunity, but I've heard nothing about what he's decided. Perhaps Goldy, vastly more "connected" than I am, knows more.
So Seattle's oldest business is about to be shuttered. It's a sad end to a great institution. But it's going down with its head held high, still doing its fine work to the very end. As Roger Oglesby, Editor and Publisher of the Post-Intelligencer, told the paper's newsroom this morning:
As for the paper, tonight will be the final run. So let's do it right. This is a great newspaper and has been for a long time. Let's show the world it still is. Let's show them what we can do, one more time.
Thank you, P-I. You'll be deeply missed.