St. Patrick's Day will be the last day you can hold a current issue of the 146-year-old Seattle Post-Intelligencer in your hand as it publishes on newsprint for the final time. After that, the Hearst Corp. says the daily publication will only be available online.
"Tonight we'll be putting the paper to bed for the last time," editor and publisher Roger Oglesby told a silent newsroom Monday morning, according to the paper's own coverage by By Dan Richman and Andrea James. "But the bloodline will live on."
Of its 181 employees, sources say that about 40 will remain.
The paper, which currently had a daily circulation of 117,600, began in 1863, when Seattle was a frontier town. The P-I lost $14 million last year, and Hearst is banking on the idea that by eliminating the production expenses, it could reverse its losing trend. It has not turned a profit since 1999.
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."
Its competitor, the Times, will deliver a copy of its publication to every P-I subscriber on Wednesday.
1 comment:
The change at Seattle Post Intelligencer is a good thing for Seattle, and for Hearst. Developing a viable news model for on-line reporting is important to future readers and society. Read more at http://www.ThePhoenixPrinciple.com
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