Bye, bye, Seattle P-I

When I worked at The Seattle Times for a couple years after graduating from college, all I heard about was dramadramadrama between that newspaper and its rival, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The two papers were involved in a Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) which allowed them to share advertising, printing and circulation while maintaining separate news and editorial departments. However, the Times wanted to break the JOA because it was causing the company to lose money, resulting in layoffs. Hence, the constant drama. Luckily, since I worked in a revenue-generating position, I was spared from being laid off. And soon after I left the company, the JOA was renegotiated and both companies resumed normal operations.

But it was recently announced that the P-I is up for sale, and Seattle will most likely become a one-newspaper town. Considering the current state of the economy, I’m not surprised that one of our newspapers is going out of business. Although I still find it sad something that’s been around since 1863 will cease to exist. As a journalism major, the evolution of the media industry in a world increasingly dominated by technology has been fascinating to watch. I, for one, never buy the newspaper. Why bother when everything is readily available via the internet from zillions of different sources? In addition, I’m helping to save trees.

However, I definitely feel for the P-I staff members who will likely lose their jobs in the next couple months. And I’m thankful that I chose to get out of the newspaper industry before it comes crashing down!