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Wednesday, February 4, 2009

City / Media Wanna Buy a Newspaper? Anyone?

Posted by Eli Sanders on Wed, Feb 4, 2009 at 2:55 PM

Responding to this morning's news, Seattle's Committee for a Two-Newspaper Town has issued a statement pleading for locals to come together and buy the P-I:

CTNT today encourages the community to discuss a possible community-wide campaign to purchase the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The goal is to ensure that the P-I, which has been publishing local news daily since 1863, is not lost forever.

“Time is running out,” said CTNT co-chair Anne Bremner, noting that the 60-day sale period announced on January 9 is nearly half over. Co-chair Phil Talmadge said, “We hope that the people of Seattle will show that they are willing and able to prevent the silencing of a valued editorial voice.”

The rest in the jump...

Today, the Hearst Corporation informed CTNT that it is still considering a complete shutdown of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer if it is unable to sell the newspaper in the coming weeks. In a letter sent this morning in response to questions posed by CTNT two days ago, Hearst counsel Eve Burton gave no indication when it will decide whether to keep the P-I alive as a Web-only operation with a greatly reduced staff. Rather, Ms. Burton said the company is “still studying that possibility.” She said that, if the P-I Web site survives, it would be “outside” of the joint operating agreement that now exists between Hearst and the Seattle Times. Ms. Burton also revealed for the first time that Hearst did not make the final $1 million payment on a contract that would have ensured the first right to buy the Seattle Times, if it is ever offered for sale.

“We appreciate Hearst’s recognition that the community wants, and deserves, answers,” said Mr. Talmadge. “We will continue to press for the information needed to prepare for whatever Hearst decides.”

CTNT welcomes help from local elected officials, as well as business, labor, environmental, neighborhood and other community groups, in responding to the closure threat. Community members interested in participating in the campaign are encouraged to write to twonewspapertown@yahoo.com.

Comments (15) RSS

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Time is running out on a lot of things, Anne Bremmer.

Posted by Lloyd Clydesdale on February 4, 2009 at 2:59 PM

You would think that if she is so worried, Anne Bremner could buy it herself with all of her money from renting herself out to Nancy Grace and Bill O'Reilly...not really a great face to put on this noble (though probably doomed) effort

Posted by Good Grief on February 4, 2009 at 3:08 PM

Buying a newspaper is probably the worst investment anyone could make today--even worse than buying a professional sports franchise. It's a dying industry. I was involved with The Committee for a Two Newspaper Town when it first organized, but time to let it go. The battle has been lost.

Posted by I Got Nuthin' on February 4, 2009 at 3:59 PM

I'm with Good Grief @2. Bremner's made a dubious career for herself locally, helping dirty cops get away with all sort of bad actions. It's a shame that the Newspaper Guild cozied up to her.

Posted by DOUG. on February 4, 2009 at 4:10 PM

Although I do hate to see the P-I go under, I can't think of any reason why anyone would want to buy it.

Newspaper revenues are plummeting industry wide. Classified ads used to be about a third of the income of most newspapers; that's now completely gutted by Craigslist and eBay. Auto and retail advertising are down dramatically, due both to the economy and the internet.

Newspapers will only survive if they can re-imagine themselves in a completely different business model. The current business model is absolutely not sustainable. And who wants to buy a business with an unsustainable business model?

It isn't a completely lost cause. There is a large readership, both in print and online. And the print readership remains fairly high, despite competition from the Seattle Times and other online news sources. But it can only survive if someone can figure out how to find a different income stream besides the old model of ads. Classified ad revenue is never coming back. And while retail advertising may come back a little if the economy recovers, it will probably never return to its peak a few years ago.

Posted by Reverse Polarity on February 4, 2009 at 4:16 PM

A newspaper? Sure! Who do I hand over my piles of cash to?

Posted by burgin99 on February 4, 2009 at 4:41 PM

♪ If I had a billion dollars ♪
♪ If I had a billion dollars ♪
♪ If I had a billion dollars ♪
♪ Well, I'd keep that paper here. ♪

Posted by blackhook on February 4, 2009 at 5:01 PM

Why do we need two newspapers again?

Posted by make mine a moo day day! on February 4, 2009 at 5:27 PM

How much?

Posted by really... on February 4, 2009 at 6:14 PM

@8 for the We Don't Need The Times We Need The P-I win.

Posted by Will in Seattle on February 4, 2009 at 7:10 PM

Hearst is "studying the possibility" of making the P-I an online-only publication to prevent its employees from being too depressed to function for the remaining days. Its all a ruse. Take your severance and run!

Posted by your name here on February 4, 2009 at 8:07 PM

Good Grief... that's a pretty crummy thing to say. I work for Anne Bremner. For God's sake, the woman works her ass off and then does her best to give her pro bono time to a cause (or causes) and she gets this kind of mean spirited unfounded criticism. She doesn't get paid for TV appearances nor her work on the CTNT or lots of other causes to which she donates her time. She appears on Bill O'Reilly a couple times a year. Unpaid. I'm not high on the Nancy Grace thing--hate the show myself, but look closely: At least Anne has the balls to go on the show knowing that every time she does so she has to take a position counter to Nancy Grace's. Thank god someone does. So Anne and others donated hundreds of hours of their time in an effort to save a newspaper... (gasp in horror) ... At least she tried to do something produtive rather than just sit on the sidelines and sling vicious insults. Get off the whoopie cushion and put your name and reputation on the line to try to make a difference. Better yet, feel free to contact Anne--you all know so much about her....annoying to me and probably surprising to you, she'll talk to you on the phone, meet you for coffee, give you her full attention. If you still want to post vicious crappy comments about her without taking advantage of the opportunity to familiarize yourself with the subject of those comments... my theory about bloggers will remain unchallenged.

Posted by ToadyGirl on February 4, 2009 at 10:37 PM

HOW MUCH?

Posted by does anyone have any idea? on February 5, 2009 at 3:26 AM

"Buying a newspaper is probably the worst investment anyone could make today"

Why? you could kill flys widh them!

Posted by lilu on February 5, 2009 at 4:31 AM

For the last couple of years Hearst pretty much left the PI alone, even as it made cuts at its other big papers.

Then the PI went and sued Hearst over the Monica Guzman union issue. Bad move by the PI union.

Now Hearst is shutting the PI down. Smells like retribution to me...

Posted by AmyLander on February 5, 2009 at 10:27 AM