Sounds like confirmations are few and far between…
Quoting an unnamed source, KING TV reported Thursday night that the newspaper’s owner, The Hearst Corp., planned to put the P-I up for sale soon, setting the stage for its closure in the next few months.
…P-I Managing Editor David McCumber said Thursday night he was surprised by KING’s report “in the sense that I have no idea if it’s true or not.”
He also said “rumors of our demise have been exaggerated in the past.”
Here’s the original KING TV report.
Now I realize that economics and the meteoric rise of internet-based news probably has more to do with this than anything. Internet-based new has been especially brutal because now folks can easily get all different stripes of reporting if they’re not happy with their local coverage. And believe me, many of us in Washington are not happy.
So, in light of that, I was just curious, Mr. McCumber, how does that position as “decider-in-chief-of-the-news” feel right about now? (Best backstory and context I could find from my past feeds on the issue are from Michelle: HERE and HERE).
Long-time Seattle natives know that Seattle PI used to be the morning paper, and the Seattle Times was the evening paper, and had been that way for a century until the spring of 2000. At that point they started competing head-to-head. And, I’m sorry, we are just not a two-paper town anymore.
I’m guessing the PI will likely continue online. Shame, really… it made such good fish-wrap and bird-cage liner.
UPDATED (2:10 PM PST): Confirmed, it’s for sale:
- Seattle P-I Up for Sale (KOMO4 News)
- Seattle P-I up for sale; could go online-only (Seattle Times)
