Blogs Jan 9, 2009 at 4:00 pm

Comments

1
I blame The Stranger. I bet the P-I would still be around if had bright, color ads for prostitutes for hobos to jerk off to.
2
I really feel for everyone who is directly impacted as a result of this. It is heartbreaking to watch this video.
3
I blame Frank Blethen's penchant for killing defenseless dogs.
4
Man that's depressing, all the more depressing for how many times I've been in a meeting like that (none of those jobs were journalism related; I just know how to pick doomed companies to work at I guess)...
5
1863. Seattle was just a muddy village then.

They have the coolest name of any newspaper in the country, too. Intelligencer -- it sounds like bulletins from the truth.
6
During the tech bust 8 years ago, I closely followed David Cook's layoff tracker. Now it looks like the layoff tracker has paid a visit to Elliott Ave. Shit.
7
It really is a shame. Seriously, it is a much more serious and adult paper than the Seattle Times.

I was kind of hoping Hearst would come in and crush the silly Times. I guess not.
8
the man fidgeting in the background looks like he's never missed a meal. not sure why anybody should feel sorry for a paper that is no longer relevant. what purpose does it serve? world news is better directly from the source, local news is better from neighborhood blogs and slog. i see no use for the PI and hope the door doesn't hit them on the way out. here's hoping the Seattle Times eats shit and dies soon too.
9
"local news is better from neighborhood blogs and slog."

Yeah, Goldy will cover politics, and ECB will not make as many errors in the future.
10
@8,

What the hell are you talking about? More people read P-I content now than ever have in its entire history.

Blogs have shit for news (gregoire is commerce secretary!), so does TV (cat in a tree!).

11
@8 Outside of sheer stupidity, what drives your anger and hatred toward news organizations? Seriously. That is just one of the dumbest, strangest posts I've ever read in my life.
12
Sigh-a-nara: if nothing else, we should feel sorry for all the people about to be put out of work. And if you seriously think we should all get our news from press releases (that's what you mean by "from the source," right? 'cause you're not going to get direct access to Gordon Brown) and neighborhood blogs, well... just think about that one again. Wave a magic wand and destroy all the country's newspapers tonight and see what happens tomorrow when the blogosphere has nothing to link to. You, my friend, are a fool.
13
@10 if blogs have shit for news, what was the point of your link to the seattle transit blog?

sorry but i haven't heard about something first from the PI since at least 2004.

do you subscribe to the PI?
14
@8, don't be such an asshole. Just what do you contribute to society? Are you certain it can't be outsourced, or that you won't become obsolete?

I've seen many a manly "IT Professional" break down and cry like a little tiny girl when the company they work for dared to tell them they were no longer needed. They thought they were invincible, but they turned out to be the just another TV repairman. Maybe that will happen to you soon!

15
those dumbasses in the video are members of the guild that went on strike in 2000 and fucked both the times and pi by doing so both lost a shit load fo money preparing for the strike and during it. I hope the pi rots in hell and that the times can pull its ass out of the fire and not do the predicted layoffs in feb.
16
@13: you're a fool. If you're not seeing news in the P-I, you don't know what's happening. Half the stories in the Slog's news coverage came from the P-I; almost all of them came from a traditional news source somewhere. Blogs have a LONG way to go to pick up the slack, and I'm quite certain that they never will. Their coverage of what's happening in the salons of Pike and Pine may be limited, but in the real city, they do a fantastic job of covering the real lives of its citizens. City Hall isn't everything.
17
@13
I run the Seattle Transit blog, and I know the level of research and news that's put into our blog (not bad as far as some go) or slog (basically the best one in terms of effort, but seriously, Commerce secretary? Even I knew that one wasn't true) compared to the P-I.
18
I'm stunned and dismayed that the loser in this battle appears to be the P-I instead of the Suburban Times. All I can say is I hope some of the P-I's best talent makes it over to the Times where they can create a stronger paper. Remember when we were all fired up about keeping two newspapers in town? Now I'm just hoping we'll be able to have one.

And Sigh-A-Nara, "first" isn't the best or only measure of quality in news. Here's a blog post I wrote in 2005 on why newspapers are still relevant. It's all still true: http://www.mynameiskate.com/blog/2005/11…

And yes, I'm a P-I subscriber.
19
Spoken like a true dumbshit and corporate sheep, flibble. Can you maybe stick your tongue just a little farther up your bosses ass? He didn't have a chance to get his high colonic this week.

See you on the unemployment line!
20
The video is such a great example of Hearst management at the core. The guy is so arrogant. He says, "We love this product." It's a newspaper, buddy. It's like he can't bring himself to say the words. Or maybe he can't rememer which Hearst "property" he's visiting with bad news today, Oprah magazine, the PI, whatever ...

And then he says, "They said I cannot take questions at this point." They? Who? How dare a newspaper executive tell a bunch of reporters they can't ask questions.
21
I am so going to miss the P.I. This is a very sad day for Seattle.
22
I can't watch the whole thing - it's too depressing.

I've been a PI reader since I moved here almost 20 years ago. I don't have a subscription now (my workplace has one), but I have in the past. I do get a lot of national news updates online, but for local news I've always gone to the PI - it really is a shame.

I'd have been a bit sad even if this had happened to the Times - but really, if one has to fold, why can't it be them?
23
The P-I is the city's paper, the times is the suburbs'.

Times is shit
24
Great acting, but I thought the script and writing could have been better. The "CSI" product placement was a bit disingenuous, though.
25
This is one of the saddest things I've seen - I've worked with some of these folks at the three dailies I've been at in the past. That Hearst-bot is no better than a Gannettoid drone and he probably memorized names on an index card 10 minutes before he made his speech. My heart goes out to my PI pals - fuck, it goes out to all my friends left in the biz. The real loser? You, "dear" reader.
26
Can anyone give me some non-ambiguous reasons as to why I should give a fuck?

Specific investigations the P-I has broke, etc..

I mean, sure, it's not the Bellevue Reporter, but how is it really much better than the Times or even The Stranger or Weekly?

Again, be specific.
27
Sammie, don't be a dork: A daily paper cannot be compared to a weekly. It's like comparing dogs and cats.

And if you can't tell the difference between the Times and the PI, you're either illiterate or retarded.
28
RetardsSS,

I'm sorry about your job situation, but again, if you can't point out specific examples of the P-I's exceptional coverage, than you're just talking out of your ass.
29
I feel sorry for Roger, the editors and the staff. There's nothing funny about this.
30
The Hearst guy was just so....smarmy and it was like he was giving a eulogy for some guy he never really knew.
31
Oh The Stranger, hold me....

I liked the PI well enough, but not nearly as much as I HATE the Times.

32
Via Romenesko: 1/09/09 -- Hearst donates $100,000 to commissioning of George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier


http://hamptonroads.com/2009/01/donors-p…
33
It'll be really cool when the New Times buys the Stranger. They'll sell. They're poor.
34
I'm a copy editor at a paper in Washington state (not one of the Seattle papers), and this is incredibly depressing.

It's a scary, scary time in this profession, particularly if you're a young journalist who truly believes in the importance of newspapers and who can't imagine wanting to work in another industry. There was a definite dark cloud hanging around my newsroom today. I feel absolutely terrible for everyone who works at the PI. It feels like we're all waiting for the day the layoffs hit our paper, but I can't imagine how awful it must feel to have been there today.
35
It's early, but has anyone heard a price floated for the PI? Wonder if Paul Allen will bite...
36
Fuck you #8, and fuck you Sammie.
37
You totally nailed it with The Wire comparison. Dude's a ringer for Carcetti, and the drama in the background (fidgeting, tearing up, interns racing across camera with paperwork) looks like a Hollywood east-coast newspaper office reenactment. Classic.
38
@26,

For one great example, they did a great series called "Conduct Unbecoming" about problems in the SPD.

I could Google up a dozen more (the PI has broken a whole lot more stories and published many more in-depth features than the Times over the last 20 years), but I'll let you do that yourself.
39
In response to the question about why we should care more about the PI than the Seattle Times: the PI has David Horsey, Art Thiel and Joel Connelly - all of whom have been loyal scribes for that particular publication for decades and bring amazing perspective and drive to their writing. And please don't forget the perspective of its editorial page team led by Mark Trahant. Also, the PI's staff as a whole have been true underdogs, consistently doing more with less than the Seattle Times. The journalists at either paper have experience and professionalism rivaled by very few bloggers. Having two professional dailies has kept them both working harder because they compete for subscribers. It's certainly not unexpected that one would fold, but a loss nonetheless -- and sad to see the newsroom that has worked harder to be as good - and the one that in terms of its editorial leaning represents more of Seattle's readers - be the one to go.

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