I admit it... I've worked for both of Seattle's major newspapers in the circulation realm... first as a multi-year newspaper delivery type with the PI while in Jr and High School, then with the Times as an Assistant District Manager.
When I was delivering this paper, I never really paid much attention to it's content. Unfortunately, the PI has taken positions over the recent years that would make Pravda Izvestia blush.
They lack any pretense of balance; their columnists and political cartoons are right off the fringes of moveon.org and they have caused far more damage than good. And now... they're up for sale... or worse.
Innovation is the key to success in business. And the PI neither innovated nor could they understand that they had become a punchline in the joke of the MSM today... not unlike NBC or CNN.
Constantly pounding on people wise enough to disagree with you; acting as a subsidiary of the Washington State Democrat Party, Inc., will not get it done.
Our local paper, The Columbian, would be well-served to learn from the example of the PI. The constant drumbeat of leftist nonsense with a desire to prattle on about stuff you know nothing about does not serve the paper well, and it has been circling the drain of bankruptcy for quite some time now... and their failure to innovate, to engage the public, and to be responsive to our concerns plays a huge role in that.
Good luck to the employees of the PI, minus most of the reporters and columnists. I'm sure there are Jobs available in the Old Soviet Union that would be just the thing.
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Last updated January 9, 2009 1:55 p.m. PT
Seattle P-I put up for sale
By DAN RICHMAN AND ANDREA JAMESP-I REPORTERS
The Seattle P-I is being put up for sale, and if after 60 days it has not sold, it will either be turned into a Web-only publication with a greatly reduced staff or discontinued entirely.
Read Hearst Corp.'s letter to P-I staff regarding the newspaper's sale.
Read others' comments and share your thoughts.
"One thing is clear: at the end of the sale process, we do not see ourselves publishing in print," said Steven Swartz, president of the Hearst Corp.'s newspaper division.
Swartz addressed the P-I's newsroom at about noon Friday, flanked by P-I editor and publisher Roger Oglesby and Lincoln Millstein, Hearst's senior vice president for digital media.
Swartz said the reason for offering the paper for sale is purely economic.
"Since 2000, the P-I has lost money each year, and the losses have escalated and continue to escalate in 2009," he said. "We have had to make a very tough decision. This is a business decision and it is no reflection on your work. The decision reflects our inability to see the losses turning around soon."
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