Slog - Comments on Today's Seattle Times Opinion Pages http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages Before the Slog lurkers at the Seattle Times jump down my virtual throat, let me say this: I like daily newspapers, I read daily newspapers, I occasionally write for daily newspapers, and I want to see daily newspapers survive. This criticism is offered constructively. Okay... A lot of folks in Seattle subscribe to the New York Times—those little blue NYT bags are all over town every morning. The NYT, like a lot of papers, is having financial difficulties just now. But it's the best daily paper in the country, truly our national newspaper. And for most daily paper readers—newsgeeks like... Copyright 2008 Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:41:18 -0800 Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:42:43 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Dave Coffman Oh I don't know Dan... Kristol has always been a day late... and a dollar short.

]]> Dave Coffman http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004176 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004176 Media Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:51:25 -0800 Comment by Peter F It isn't just the opinion page -- check out the bylines on stories throughout the entire paper. Maybe two stories a day are written locally; the rest are all off wire services.

]]> Peter F http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004177 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004177 Media Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:52:43 -0800 Comment by PopTart Thank you Dan for putting this out there, I totally agree with you. Since the Seattle Times did their re-design last month a huge portion of the paper is regurgitated from other sources. There is no value add to subscribing to the paper edition of the Seattle Times anymore and it pisses me off.

Because, frankly I don't need a hard copy that pulls together all the things that iGoogle pulls together for me already. What I need is local news and events coverage, I need to know what's going on here. I have PLENTY of other sources to find out what's going on elsewhere.

]]> PopTart http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004178 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004178 Media Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:54:02 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle It's not like Bill Kristol has been wrong every time ... oh, wait, no, he has been.

But I agree that David Postman is a shining star that should be on the ST opinion/editorial pages, rather than hidden from view.

Mind you, I no longer get the NYT and get the WSJ until my subscription runs out, when I'll switch back to the only other local paper, the Seattle P-I.

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004183 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004183 Media Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:57:49 -0800 Comment by wilfred pupkin إخرث خب غخع يهسسهيثرفس شذفعشممغ قثشي فاث إٌُ سخ صاغ ذخوحمشهر؟

]]> wilfred pupkin http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004215 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004215 Media Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:38:42 -0800 Comment by Katelyn I love daily papers too, but I read even the PI online-only these days. The only exception is if I'm at a coffee shop and there's a free paper sitting in front of me.

]]> Katelyn http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004230 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004230 Media Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:10:42 -0800 Comment by Poster girl The other thing that's killing their brand is the low quality of the Sunday paper. In other cities it's the best paper of the week, in Seattle it's a pile of wasted pulp.

]]> Poster girl http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004235 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004235 Media Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:20:24 -0800 Comment by s I, for one, would loathe to see shitty-tipper-bad-parent-ass-hat Sharkansky get a column. It's bad enough he lives here and we have to see him around Greenlake wearing a skirt. You know he ego-Googles, so The Stranger has just given the Shark a hard on. Thanks - Hopefully he won't go out to eat to celebrate.

]]> s http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004238 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004238 Media Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:25:15 -0800 Comment by Dan Savage I'd take Shark of Kristol.

]]> Dan Savage http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004262 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004262 Media Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:51:48 -0800 Comment by Dan Savage "over"

]]> Dan Savage http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004263 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004263 Media Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:52:28 -0800 Comment by s Well, that's like saying I'll take a poke in the eye with a sharp stick over someone tweezing out each of my nose hairs. They are both unbearable. Has anyone considered that the daily newspaper is an artifact of the past that needs to just, well die?

]]> s http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004270 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004270 Media Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:00:59 -0800 Comment by Original Andrew For the life of me, I can’t understand why people still read the New York Times.


How many more Republican Party lies, propaganda and scandals does that idiotic paper have to shove down the throats of its beleaguered and rapidly dwindling readership before the readers finally come to their senses?


Wasn’t Bill Kristol’s coronation on the Op-Ed page the final “fuck you?”


Like the majority of the US media, they treat their readers like fools; it's insulting.

]]> Original Andrew http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004290 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004290 Media Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:36:50 -0800 Comment by local NYT is stuck with Kristol for a brief, face-saving time, until they can unceremoniously dump him. (At the rate he's going--Passover greetings!--psst, Bill, maybe you should take over for finger-on-the-pulse-of-the-nation Charlie Gibson over there--about two more weeks. And a retraction in his debut column! It really doesn't get better than that.) But the Seattle Times actually chooses to print Kristol. And don't forget, they gave Michelle Malkin her start in life. And they had Goldberg, and they still run Krauthammer, whose brain has slowly, but is now rapidly, turning to jello after his New Republic days. Well, I've read the Seattle Times for over 30 years and it's sad. They never made the transition from thoughtful afternoon commentary on the day to feisty morning paper. They lost the JOA stalemate with Hearst. They're really just hanging on because the next generation of Blathers, I mean Blethens, has nothing better to do.

]]> local http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004303 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004303 Media Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:07:17 -0800 Comment by Greg Word, Dan. Why do they reprint the same old, bad shit that was in the NYT? Hell, I'd rather see a daily column by Tim Eyman over Kristol. (I'd probably write in more often!)

]]> Greg http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004311 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004311 Media Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:01:14 -0800 Comment by Cato You should read a quality paper like the Wall Street Journal.

Opinion's? Who gives a damn about opinions, everybody and their mother has an opinion about something. I read the paper for stories and information, not so some hired intellectual can go off on the nonsense of the day. That's what the letters page is for.

]]> Cato http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004315 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004315 Media Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:08:07 -0800 Comment by I'm a Nuclear Bomb Coming from the guy that's given us a consistently batshit crazy neo-Michelle Malkinite of the left in Erica Barnett, I don't think your the one to criticize another paper's editorial content.

That said, point one Savage.

The Times needs to clean house something fierce. Too bad their union didn't have the guts to allow it (sooner) and management is too much of a pussy to get rid of the dead weight on their end.

]]> I'm a Nuclear Bomb http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004320 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004320 Media Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:30:26 -0800 Comment by Perfect Reader C'mon, no Times staff or bosses responding here? Or maybe in the morning? We gotta hear something from you guys

]]> Perfect Reader http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004347 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004347 Media Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:02:39 -0800 Comment by jayhoytt Even if Kristol was producing jewels on a regular basis, Dan's point is solid.

]]> jayhoytt http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004349 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004349 Media Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:05:09 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle @6 and @7 win.

Actually, I tend to read the PI and Times in print only when I'm at the coffee shop or local diner or bakery and someone else bought it ... so very good points.

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004357 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004357 Media Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:24:10 -0800 Comment by kenny This is all part of a larger, growing trend. The daily paper is less about news and more about advertising revenue. Like the problem with the PI, I live in Toronto and one of the main national papers, the Globe and Mail, has been inserting an increasingly amount of "People Magazine" content lately.

Sure, that stuff is entertaining, though certainly not newsworthy. The number of wire feed stories has increased dramatically while the domestic news content has waned.

The trend overall is away from news reporting and over to profit driven advertising display. The movie Lions for Lambs touched on this recently...how the media is selling out.

The shift in media is a big problem. I am not sure what comes next.

]]> kenny http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004377 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004377 Media Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:34:59 -0800 Comment by rb Completely agree. I actually canceled my subscription. For about the past month I kept having deja vu when reading the Seattle Times Saturday and Sunday editions. I realized that I'd already read practically every article the day or so before online. When ST made the announcement several months ago that they would be including more NYT content, I thought it would strengthen their news coverage. Unfortunately they didn't clarify that they'd just be reprinting stale articles. If they can't figure out how to make their print editions something more than a rehashing of old news, they really are in trouble.

]]> rb http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004440 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004440 Media Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:16:24 -0800 Comment by DOUG. Larry Stone rules!

]]> DOUG. http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004461 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004461 Media Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:39:14 -0800 Comment by PopTart @14, Dude are you psychic? Or do you work at the Seattle Times? There's an editorial by Tim Eyman in today's paper.

]]> PopTart http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004468 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004468 Media Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:44:56 -0800 Comment by Barbara All those staff writers and they run wire copy that most of us have already read. No wonder they're tanking.

]]> Barbara http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004486 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004486 Media Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:05:52 -0800 Comment by Greg @23: Weird. Although maybe not so weird, because Eyman has a column in the Times whenever he's trying to get some new, asinine initiative on the ballot.

However, there was also a good, local editorial in yesterday's paper:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2004364209_domke22.html

]]> Greg http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004713 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004713 Media Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:40:47 -0800 Comment by Greg And you know that joke: Who's the best author at the Seattle Times? Some guy named Associated Press.

]]> Greg http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004718 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/todays_seattle_times_opinion_pages#c1004718 Media Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:42:43 -0800