If you’ve been following the “P-I for sale?” story

Last night KING5 TV broke the story that the P-I would be put up for sale as a possible precursor to closing. People at the paper expressed surprise, as they hadn’t heard this. Today, however, this has just appeared on the P-I’s online home page, confirming it:

The Seattle P-I newspaper is being put up for sale. Steve Swartz, president of Hearst Newspaper Division, told the newsroom that Hearst Corp. is starting a 60-day process to find a buyer. If a buyer is not found, Swartz said, Hearst will pursue other options. The options include moving to a digital-only operation with a greatly reduced staff, or completely shutting down operations. In no case will Hearst continue to publish the P-I in printed form, Swartz said.

(Update: It’s now on the P-I site in article format; second update, here’s the Hearst news release.) We want to add a personal note that we would hate to see the P-I go, for one major reason: It has by far led the way in Seattle in presenting online news and information on a citywide/regional basis, including recognition of the importance of collaborating with the people formerly known as “readers.” (The P-I has also trailblazed in creating opportunities for its reporters to do coverage in blog format as well as traditional articles; among the stories it’s covering that way right now is the announcement that Boeing‘s Commercial Airplanes division plans thousands of job cuts this year – here’s the latest on the P-I site.)

2:45 PM UPDATE: Side note on this story, a little visual reminder that the news landscape has changed. Joe sent this screen grab from his check of Google News coverage on the P-I sale:

He hadn’t been aware that WSB stories are indexed in Google News. We announced that here last February. WSB was the first blog-format Seattle neighborhood-news site to get Google News indexing; several other sites achieved it within the past month or so.

Meghan January 9, 2009 (12:33 pm)

What a shame! I think the PI is the better daily newspaper, but the sad reality is that most every city (except the very largest few; and even a few of those) are already one daily newspaper towns. I REALLY hope they can at least continue as an on-line paper. I think their website is so much better than the Seattle Times website. It’s updated more often and much more user friendly.

Kayleigh2 January 9, 2009 (12:41 pm)

Very sad. And is it me or is my Seattle Times getting more and more sparse?

charlabob January 9, 2009 (12:56 pm)

Is there any possibility of an employee buyout? I’m sure they don’t have anyone with the $ of a Mike Barnicle but I *just* read where MB and three other rich folks tried to buy the Boston Globe from the NYT. Moving this to the forum too :-)

WSB January 9, 2009 (1:02 pm)

K2 – they had some design changes recently. I can’t quickly find a link and am trying to finish the epic-proportion Kenney report from last night – maybe someone else can dig up that link, it’s only a couple months back, at most.

Scott January 9, 2009 (1:07 pm)

I’ve always enjoyed reading the P-I, even though the same news is in the Times, the P-I is more ‘reader friendly’ to me.
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But, the printed media has been living in a past-life for years, Internet and available media on-line has made yesterday’s news in printed form obsolete.
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The Eastside Newspapers, Journal American et al went through a down sizing several years ago. Even the West Seattle newspaper is venturing into a digital format, its still ‘old news’ by the time it finally gets posted to the web.
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Long live the WSB !

rockyraccoon January 9, 2009 (1:09 pm)

Kayleigh2, it’s not just you. I’ve subscribed to the Times for years, and it’s pathetic what it’s become over the last two years or so. It’s not just a new layout. There is much less content, and what is left has many more errors than in the past. Newspapers were dying anyway, but this kind of deterioration will surely speed up the process.

CB January 9, 2009 (1:19 pm)

“video killed the radio star”

traci January 9, 2009 (1:19 pm)

This is such sad news. I love the PI.

cmc January 9, 2009 (1:21 pm)

The Times isn’t doing a whole lot better. It just has a longer runway now that it’s losing it’s primary print competitor. But at some point it too will have to face the digital reality. It will adapt, or die.

Revenue for print ads has gone off the cliff in the past decade or so; and revenue from digital ads isn’t keeping pace because the ad-market is so much more diluted with other opportunities these days. Digital subscription fees (paying for access to the web version) doesn’t work because the content is widely available elsewhere for free.

Just like the automobile replaced the horse-and-buggy for our transportation needs, technology is changing how we get our news. We can get up-to-the-minute information from websites like this one, or Twitter, or Facebook statuses about earthquakes in California, and numerous other avenues.

Nostalgically, I agree that it’s too bad. And I hate to see people I know lose jobs. But neither of those factors is a compelling enough reason to keep alive while a medium that is losing relevancy in the market. On the positive side, we’re all better informed about our environment in today’s world than we were during the print age.

I just hope network television is paying attention. It will be facing a very similar crisis, and I think much sooner than the TV execs expect.

Huindekmi January 9, 2009 (1:33 pm)

Also killing the newspapers are things like Craig’s List, Monster, eBay, etc. They have lost TONS in classified advertising.

It’s too bad, because TV news can’t dedicate the time to in-depth coverage of a story and on-line sites often don’t have the manpower or editorial capabilities to cover the breadth of issues or remain impartial in their reporting.

Under_Achiever January 9, 2009 (1:45 pm)

Two words: Buggy whips.

Gina January 9, 2009 (1:52 pm)

But where will I read “Mary Worth”?

Sue January 9, 2009 (1:55 pm)

Gina: http://www.kingfeatures.com/features/comics/mworth/about.htm

big gulps,eh? well, see ya later. January 9, 2009 (3:05 pm)

what will I line my bird cage with? JK.

Cami January 9, 2009 (3:32 pm)

Bummer. Let’s hope they stay online! Love the screen grab!

shed22 January 9, 2009 (4:03 pm)

please don’t slaughter me for this opinion, but i have never enjoyed reading a newspaper. perhaps it’s because i grew up in the digital age, but i find newspapers to be cummbersome, clunky, messy (ink on the fingers), and downright wasteful. layouts are horrible: read a couple paragraphs of a headline and then you have to wrestle your way to the rest of the article hidden somewhere on A-8 or E-10.

i feel awful for the loss of jobs and can understand the upset of losing something familiar, but how many people (really) are still boo-hooing over the loss of 8-tracks and vhs?

jeannie January 9, 2009 (4:17 pm)

Actually, Big Gulps, 9 out of 10 birds prefer pooping on The Stranger.

Babs January 9, 2009 (4:24 pm)

“Whatever you do, don’t mistake the decline of newspapers with the decline of journalism.” I adore the web, gadgets, blogs, Twitter, My Space and more. I embrace the tech and could not live without it! I still love to read the PI every day, don’t ask me why, I’m attached to a way of life I know has been on life support. Its just like phone booths, how many of those do you see? What I must say is I will miss my P.I. Nothing better on a Sunday is the big fat paper, a comfy couch, strong coffee and a bike ride after reading that wonderful old school newspaper. In its place I will continue to use and love the tech and must add one great one is Google Reader which constantly checks your favorite news sites and blogs for new content. Check it out. And if the P.I does fold, I shall raise my glass to a long fruitful life and a friend I adored.

miws January 9, 2009 (7:16 pm)

Dang it shed22! Didja hafta remind me about 8 tracks!

*sobs uncrontrollably*

Mike

OP January 9, 2009 (10:22 pm)

Maybe it’ll be bought out by Rupert Murdoch and become the voice of Northwest conservatives. *sigh* Oh, who am I kidding….even Rupert wouldn’t buy such a dead investment.

Sorry, comment time is over.