Media Death Watch Continued

Seattle Post-Intelligencer is put up for sale

SEATTLE (AP) -- Hearst Corp. put Seattle's oldest newspaper, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, up for sale on Friday and said that if it can't find a buyer in the next 60 days the paper would likely close or continue to exist only online.

If it does become an Internet-only operation, the P-I, as the paper is known locally, would have a "greatly reduced staff," Hearst said in a statement. Hearst is a major media company that also owns TV stations, other newspapers and magazines including Cosmopolitan.

Cosmo? Isn't that the magazine on the grocery store racks with the bosomy girls on the cover and sex advice inside?

The other Seattle paper is also in trouble:

Many industry analysts expected the P-I, backed by Hearst's deep pockets, to outlast The Times, which is controlled by the Blethen family. The Times, like newspapers around the country, has had severe financial troubles of its own and has cut 500 positions in the past year.

And in Minnesota news:

Also Friday, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis ended talks with a union representing employees after being unable to agree on a request for concessions, setting the stage for a possible bankruptcy filing by Minnesota's largest newspaper.

Not being a resident of Seattle, I went to the P-I website to get a flavor for the paper. A lot of what is printed are simply AP stories, which is common is most newspapers today. So I clicked on a local story about flooding: Blame recurring floods on a triple whammy and you will find a opinion peace from "reporter" ROBERT McCLURE with just enough quotes from various named and un-named sources to fill out his column.

To save you to trouble, the fault is development, logging and climate change.

Well, yes, flooding does occur in wilderness areas, it just doesn't cover roads and run into basements because there are no roads and basements.

If the P-I closes and McClure and his merry band are forced to find new places to work perhaps the floods that occur in Washington will have less of an impact on humanity. So it isn't all bad.