Last week's spate of bad news for local newspapers for some reason inspired me to dig this t-shirt (click to enlarge) out of a drawer, send an image of it around to a bunch of Seattle media types, and collect responses. It was a sort of Rorschach test—what does this memento from the online Union Record, the strike paper put together by picketing Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer employees over the winter of 2000-2001, say to you now, in these death-by-Internet days for big city newspapers? After all, the Union Record was new media competition for the dailies at a time before anyone fully realized how powerfully disruptive this kind of competition would eventually become.

One problem: I didn't provide a deadline, which is the only thing that gets journalists to do anything. Here, then, are two slow-to-arrive (but still interesting) responses, both from journalists at The Seattle Times—and one with a bit of news in it.

To me looking at that t-shirt was a little like pulling out an old poster for a Doors concert. Miserable and sad and intense as the entire strike experience was, it feels like a quaint look back in time given the current unraveling of the industry. I rarely think of it at all anymore

I'm reminded of another t-shirt—the one Frank Blethen was photographed holding up the day it was announced the Times could go to morning publication. (Which really was the death knell for the PI, the only surprise is it took so long.) The shirt had the Times 'eagle' ripping apart the P-I Globe. Some people—including some editors here—thought it was really crass. I ordered one for myself and it is still in a drawer somewhere, though totally faded. Fuck—newspaper wars used to be fun.

Overall, this makes me remember how different the loss of one newspaper might have felt if it had occurred five or six years ago, with the better parts of both staffs combined. Obviously that wouldn't have stopped the economic tsunami that is blowing us away now. But it might have saved some good reporters from being out of work for several years. I would have allowed myself some enjoyment if that were the case. Working with some of the P-I reporters instead of competing against them would have been fun. As it stands, the death of the P-I gives me ZERO cause for joy.

[Monday] we got a message from the Guild about our 'options' to fill the company's request for a 12% reduction in salary and benefits. They include a 15% base wage cut, giving up a week of vacation, a weeklong unpaid furlough, the pension freeze, loss of incentives for circulation reps, and reduction in mileage reimbursement. ([Guild administrator] Liz Brown says the pension freeze plus the weeklong furloughs will NOT make up the total cuts needed.)

We don't have to agree to these cuts as a union, but what are our real options?

The only bright side to the economic crisis is that some of the dimwits who thought blogs and news aggregators could magically make up for the loss of actual reporting are starting to understand that is not true.

I do think some start-ups will eventually fill the void. But I haven't seen them yet.