Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Name	Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Logo
Caption	P-I headquarters from Myrtle Edwards Park
Type	online newspaper
Format	former broadsheet
Foundation	1863
Owners	Hearst Corporation
Headquarters	101 Elliott Avenue WestSeattle, Washington 98119
Ceased publication	March 17, 2009 (now online only)
Issn	0745-970X
Oclc	3734418
Website	seattlepi.com

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (popularly known as the Seattle P-I, the Post-Intelligencer, or simply the P-I) is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States and the surrounding area. The newspaper was initially founded in 1863 as the weekly Seattle Gazette and later published daily in broadsheet format until March 17, 2009, when it became an online-only newspaper. Prior to ceasing print publication, the Post-Intelligencer was one of two daily newspapers in Seattle, the other being the The Seattle Times.

History

J.R. Watson founded the P-I, Seattle's first newspaper, on December 10, 1863 as the Seattle Gazette. The paper failed after a few years and was renamed the Weekly Intelligencer in 1867 by the new owner, Sam Maxwell.

1878, after publishing the Intelligencer as a morning daily, Thaddeus Hanford bought the Daily Intelligencer for $8,000. Hanford also acquired the daily Puget Sound Dispatch and the weekly Pacific Tribune and folded both papers into the Intelligencer. In 1881, the Intelligencer merged with the Seattle Post. The names were combined to form the present-day name.

William Randolph Hearst took over the paper in 1921. The Hearst Corporation owns the P-I to this day.

On December 15, 2006, no copies were printed as a result of a power outage caused by the December 2006 Pacific Northwest storms. It was the first time in 70 years that publication had been suspended.

On January 9, 2009, the Hearst Corporation announced that after losing money on it every year since 2000, Hearst was putting the P-I up for sale. The paper would be put on the market for 60 days, and if a buyer could not be found within that time, the paper would either be turned into an Internet-only publication with a drastically reduced staff, or closed outright. The news of the paper's impending sale was initially broken by local station KING-TV the night prior to the official announcement, and came as a surprise to the P-I's staff and the owners of rival newspaper The Seattle Times. Analysts did not expect a buyer to be found, in view of declining circulation in the U.S. newspaper industry and other newspapers on the market going unsold. Five days before the 60-day deadline, the P-I reported that the Hearst Corporation had given several P-I reporters provisional job offers for an online edition of the P-I.

On March 16, 2009, the newspaper posted a headline on its front page, followed shortly after by a short news story, that explained that the following day's edition would be its final one in print. The newspaper's publisher, Roger Oglesby, was quoted saying that the P-I would continue as an online-only operation. Print subscribers had their subscriptions automatically transferred to the Seattle Times on March 18.

the P-I continues as an online-only newspaper. In September 2010, the site had an estimated 2.8 million unique visitors and 208,000 visitors per day.

Joint Operating Agreement - "JOA"

From 1983 to 2009, the P-I and The Seattle Times had a "Joint Operating Agreement" (JOA) whereby advertising, production, marketing, and circulation were run for both papers by the Seattle Times Company. They maintained separate news and editorial departments. The papers published a combined Sunday edition, although the Times handled the majority of the editorial content while the P-I only provided a small editorial/opinions section.

In 2003 Times tried to cancel the JOA, citing a clause in the JOA that three consecutive years of losses were cause for cancelling the agreement. Hearst disagreed and immediately filed suit to prevent the Times from cancelling the agreement. Hearst argued that a force majeure clause prevented the Times from claiming losses in 2000 and 2001 as reason to end the JOA, because they resulted from extraordinary events (in this case, a seven week newspaper strike). Each side publicly accused the other of attempting to put its rival out of business. The trial judge granted a summary judgment in Hearst's favor on the force majeure issue. But after two appeals, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Times on June 30, 2005, on the force majeure clause, reversing the trial court judge. The two papers settled the issue on April 16, 2007.

The JOA was ended in 2009 with the cessation of the P-I print edition.

Report on Judge Gary Little

Investigative reporting on King County Superior Court Judge Gary Little's out-of-court contact with juvenile defendants revealed accusations that Little molested young boys while he was a teacher at Seattle's exclusive Lakeside School between 1968 and 1971. It also revealed inappropriate contact between Little and juveniles appearing before him after he became a judge. On August 19, 1988, after reporter Duff Wilson called the judge to advise him the newspaper was publishing the story, Little shot himself in the King County Courthouse. The ethical debates surrounding the publication of the story – and the network of connections that protected Little – are taught in journalism classes across the country, and led to reforms in the way judges are disciplined in Washington state.

Conduct Unbecoming series

In 2006 the P-I became the subject of a complaint to the Washington News Council for its reporting on the King County Sheriff's Office. The media watch-dog group ruled against the P-I, agreeing with Sheriff Sue Rahr's complaint that the newspaper had unfairly disparaged the Sheriff's Office. The P-I declined to participate in the proceedings, and opted instead to give a detailed reply on its website.

The P-I Globe

The P-I is known for the 18.5-ton, 30-ft neon globe atop its headquarters on the Elliott Bay waterfront, which features the words "It's in the P-I" rotating around the globe and an eagle perched atop with wings stretched upwards. The globe originated around 1949 from a readers' contest to determine a new symbol for the paper. In the time since, the globe has become a city landmark that to locals is as iconic as the Space Needle. A stylized rendering of the globe appeared on the masthead of the newspaper in its latter years and continues to feature on its website.

Notable employees

Notable employees of the P-I have included the novelists E.B. White, Frank Herbert and Tom Robbins; and the award-winning legal-affairs reporter Tracy Johnson.

See also

Hutch Award (baseball award bestowed at P-I's annual "Sports Star of the Year" banquet)

References

External links

The Seattle P-I online

The Seattle P-I mobile

Hearst subsidiary profile of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Category:Newspapers published in Seattle, Washington Category:Hearst Corporation publications Category:Publications established in 1863 Category:Publications disestablished in 2009 Category:Defunct newspapers of Washington (state) Category:Online periodicals with defunct print editions Category:Digital newspapers published in the United States