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Monday, March 2, 2009

City / Media Re: The P-I Countdown

Posted by Eli Sanders on Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 4:30 PM

I've posted before about the somewhat bizarre fact that, more than 50 days after Hearst started a 60-day countdown to the near-certain death of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's print edition, we still don't have the official word on when, exactly, the paper will cease printing.

It turns out that it's not a simple matter of counting to 60, or down from 60, or what have you.

Still, at this point it would seem there could be a little more clarity. The day that's been floating around—still unconfirmed by Hearst—is March 18. But who knows. The blog of the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild, always a good read for those following this closely, has some representative anger about the situation:

It’d be nice if Hearst, somewhere in its “100 days of change,” could find the time to let P-I employees know exactly which day will be their last on the job. We’re sure somebody’ll get around to it sooner or later.

Seems clear now that the premature decision to shutter the P-I was made so Seattle’s bloody stump could be waved in the face of Hearst employees in San Francisco as a vision of one possible future if they delay granting massive concessions at the Chronicle.

Perhaps. Perhaps not. In any event, it's certainly frustrating for the journalists involved. One P-I reporter told me recently that he's hard at work on a nostalgic story that will run in the last edition of the paper—but, of course, no one can tell him for sure when that last edition will come.

Comments (11) RSS

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Is it really that difficult to understand that it is hard to nail down a "last day" in a situation where the owners are likely trying to do everything they can to find alternatives to shutting down, whether that's selling or reconfiguring or bankruptcy, or what have you? This need for a certain date, while I can understand the desire, seems to miss the point of how messy this all is.

Posted by Timothy on March 2, 2009 at 4:32 PM

Have they thought of Lend-Lease?

That worked great during WW II when Great Britain was under attack.

Posted by Will in Seattle on March 2, 2009 at 4:56 PM

An easier thing to understand is that they have no intention of doing anything that will get in the way of shutting that sucker down getting the hell out of Seattle to stem the bleeding. They'll pull a Rocky Mountain News and announce it the day before the last edition. And there won't be a Web-only paper, either.

Posted by Hearst Is Outta Here on March 2, 2009 at 5:19 PM

Meanwhile, Frank Blethen is still bleeding red ink, like all the other Socialists in the GOP.

Posted by You're Next, Seattle Times on March 2, 2009 at 6:04 PM

gay sex pee pee muh dik fois gras pitbull mad rad raping priests PI

Posted by your next, The Stranger on March 2, 2009 at 7:08 PM

This same thing just happened to the rocky mountain herald. They only found out the day before the last issue that they'd be out of a job, right?

Posted by Der on March 2, 2009 at 7:38 PM

@3 is right.

Posted by Big Fag on March 2, 2009 at 8:11 PM

I'm really bad with money, and with being prepared for inevitable things, like bill collectors calling when I "forget" to pay for stuff on time.

Now I'm not sure what to say when Linda from the circulation dept calls back about my PI subscription. Do I let her put the past-due on the debit card and start leaving a dollar outside my door for the delivery people?

I'm very awkward in these situations. She's calling tomorrow. I need my Ativan now.

Posted by Nelly on March 2, 2009 at 9:48 PM

Check it out: Pledges are arriving at SeattlePostGlobe@yahoo.com to help P-I reporters create an online venture if they're booted by Hearst.

See:

http://tinyurl.com/bve84u

Posted by SeattlePostGlobe on March 3, 2009 at 11:37 AM

Scripps announced a 2008 loss of 476 millllllllllion dollars

Posted by anders on March 3, 2009 at 12:44 PM

On 2 February I paid $58.50 to the Seattle Times Company for 3 months of daily P.I. and Sunday Times. Yesterday, I received a bill for $58.50 for the P.I. and Sunday Times from 29 March through 27 June. What the hell am I going to get for this money? Bupkis or the daily Times?

Posted by Algernon on March 3, 2009 at 3:31 PM