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Friday, December 15, 2006

An Online Newspaper Town

posted by on December 15 at 10:40 AM

Both Seattle dailies are publishing exclusively online today, but it’s not some bold experiment relating to the future of journalism.

Bothell, where both newspapers are printed on presses owned by the Seattle Times Company, apparently lost power last night during the print run, leaving the Times with a measly 13,000 printed copies that it says it’s sending to downtown Seattle and Bellevue.

All of which points out that in the paperless newspaper future, if indeed it’s coming, an Achilles’ heel in the mode of production will remain the same: the need for copious amounts of electricity.

You can’t print a newspaper without power. And an online newspaper doesn’t work so well when 1 million potential readers can’t turn on their computers.

RSS icon Comments

1

That's pathetic that they don't have generators. In the old days, NOTHING could stop a daily paper from coming out.

Posted by Fnarf | December 15, 2006 11:03 AM
2

Generators? Have you ever seen a printing press? They're four stories tall.

Posted by heywhatsit | December 15, 2006 11:06 AM
3

I just want my bricks-n-mortar New York Times. I'm already going through withdrawal. Did others get their copies delivered this morning?

Posted by Sara | December 15, 2006 11:19 AM
4

I believe the Seattle Times Company prints the NY Times at the same Bothell facility, so I think that won't be available either.

Posted by DOUG. | December 15, 2006 11:28 AM
5

have you ever seen a BIG generator?

Posted by Fnarf | December 15, 2006 11:38 AM
6

I agree with Fnarf. Datacenters probably use way more electricity than the printing presses, and they are able to keep going during outages by using massive generators (well, maybe not Fisher Plaza :P ).

Posted by Andrew Hitchcock | December 15, 2006 11:42 AM
7
Posted by jez | December 15, 2006 12:27 PM
8

Both online newspapers and print newspapers are amazing magic tricks. It's nice to have the redundancy of the pulp and electronic formats to buttress the ever-tenuousness of mass communication.

Hey, kinda reminds me of the AVW and I-5! Howdeedo! Had a great viewpoint from Qwest Field last night, watching all the poor assholes that were using the AWV as a back-up plan for flooded parts of I-5.

Moral: Don't put all your eggs in one basket and stuff.

Posted by Lloyd Clydesdale | December 15, 2006 12:36 PM
9
Posted by Prospero | December 15, 2006 8:37 PM
10

One million citizens without power, hundreds of thousands still without power to this moment, and one of the two major dailies did not print a paper for the first time in 70 years.

Is it just me, or is this a stinging indictment of Seattle's woefully inadequate infrastructure?

Posted by Gomez | December 16, 2006 10:18 PM

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