Newspaper icon ‘mortally wounded'

March 17, 2009 by Carrie Frye

The Globe, perched atop the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Building since 1948, will remain as print becomes pixels at SeattlePI.com

"...Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter." Thomas Jefferson
This quote lines the staircase wall at The Seattle Post-Intelligencer building.

By Kathy Bohanan Enzerink
The Pamlico News
On location in Seattle

In business since 1863, the last issue of the Seattle Post Intelligencer rolled off the presses Monday night.
The paper lost $14 million dollars last year and New York-based owners, Hearst Newspapers, put the P-I up for sale Jan. 9, stating it would stop printing if a buyer did not emerge within 60 days. In limbo for the past two months, more than 150 journalists and staffers are now unemployed after receiving the news yesterday morning.
The beginning of the end can be traced back to 1983 when a Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) was put into place with the competing Seattle Times. By 1992 The Times was printing both papers. An Agreement revision in 1999 allowed The Times to move from an afternoon to a morning publication, putting it in direct competition with the P-I. A labor strike, followed by several years of losses, started the movement to dissolve the JOA by The Times. The four-year legal tug-o'-war ended in 2007 with an agreement between the two entities, but within six months, power shifted at Hearst and the downhill slide was in motion. The cover price increased and the sections decreased, to no avail.
By early January, Hearst launched its "100 Days of Change," which included the For Sale sign at the P-I.
"This is a sad day," wrote a long-time P-I reporter.

Reporter's Note:
I was born and raised in Seattle, moving away 35 years ago when The Smith Tower, Space Needle and P-I Globe were the city's landmarks.
The P-I has been delivered to our front door every morning since I can remember. My Dad wanted to read the news of the day before he left for work. Simple. Getting the afternoon paper was never an option.
When Seattle's two papers joined forces and published a combined Sunday edition, it felt like an identity loss. There was grumbling among faithful P-I subscribers, but business is business and the bottom line prevailed.
Today, that bottom line, bracketed by losses, becomes history. Tomorrow, Seattle joins the trend of a one-rag town. The Seattle Times is it.
It is a sad day for me as well.

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