<p>3/17. Guess they will have a good reason to really celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.</p>
<p>Barrons, from what I’ve read the staff at the P-I have been imbibing in excess since the initial announcement in January. It’s a shame. I don’t like to hear about any major American newspaper closing. But clearly times have changed. If you’re 35 or younger, there’s a good chance that you’ve never regularly read a daily newspaper. Heck, I know 50-year old successful professionals with graduate degrees who RARELY read newspapers. I’ll miss the P-I, but then again, as a former Northwesterner, for years I’ve only read the online edition anyway. Most funny to me is all the angry folks who complain that the PI was just a ‘liberal rag.’ I’m old enough to remember when the PI was clearly identified as the conservative paper in Seattle.</p>
<p>It is amazing to me that unlike Europe, most Americans only have one metropolitan newspaper to read.</p>
<p>Having once served on a shinking ship (and barely escaped a second) --it is one of the most difficult things to do in ones working life. I have nothing but sympathy for what they are going through. But it seems to end OK if you look for the new opportunity and take it. For me it meant moving from Chicago to Seattle.
We still buy a paper daily but with the content shrinking so fast, it’s getting hard to justify. The Seattle Times now looks like a small city daily.</p>
<p>I sent an email to a friend who works (worked) at the PI recently. In it, I talked about my opinion that the daily printed papers are history, sadly. My mother, father, brother, and nephew were all veterans of various daily papers, and only one of those papers (and my father worked for four or five newspapers) is still extant. The first went down in 1978.</p>
<p>I see no way for the smaller newspapers to survive in print form UNLESS they choose to specialize in their local communities. I can remember when the local paper sent a representative to the school board meetings (for example)–but that seems to be past. Most “reporting” at the local papers comes in the form of letters to the editor and blog comments. </p>
<p>Investigative reporting and whistle-blowing–the traditional job of journalists–is going by the wayside. It’s sad. I wonder what will take its place.</p>
<p>Shortly after making that post, I ran across this transcript of a speech on the future of news media:</p>
<p>[stevenberlinjohnson.com:</a> Old Growth Media And The Future Of News](<a href=“http://www.stevenberlinjohnson.com/2009/03/the-following-is-a-speech-i-gave-yesterday-at-the-south-by-southwest-interactive-festival-in-austiniif-you-happened-to-being.html]stevenberlinjohnson.com:”>http://www.stevenberlinjohnson.com/2009/03/the-following-is-a-speech-i-gave-yesterday-at-the-south-by-southwest-interactive-festival-in-austiniif-you-happened-to-being.html)</p>
<p>“Investigative reporting and whistle-blowing–the traditional job of journalists–is going by the wayside. It’s sad. I wonder what will take its place.”</p>
<p>I agree - it is so sad. Blogs and ads took over the universe.</p>
<p>I noted yesterday that here in the Boston area, the Sunday New York Times now costs $5.</p>
<p>It just doesn’t seem the right price point for a newspaper.</p>
<p>Does the business of [daily] newspapers need a substantial readjustment? Meaning, are professionals in the news business going to need to take a significant pay cut to keep these things going? I know that most local reporters aren’t affluent but are the days of six-figure salaries for columnists and editors over?</p>
<p>BunsenBurner: yep, blogs are now where you see investigative reporting. Sadly, it’s not where you see editors and factcheckers.</p>
<p>LW: I hate to tell you this, but columnists and editors have never made six-figure salaries outside of the big-city dailies. I know this. I’ve seen the paystubs.</p>
<p>m old enough to remember when the PI was clearly identified as the conservative paper in Seattle.
I dont believe you. 
The P-I was the blue collar-city paper and the Times was the college- suburb paper.
This is Seattle We don’t have no conservatives.
Maybe in Poulsbo. Or George.
How far back do you go anyway?</p>
<p>Funny, my parents took the PI when I was growing up in the 'burbs. I remember considering it conservative - if for nothing else than the Hearst name. Most people I knew picked the PI or the Times based on whether they wanted a morning or an afternoon paper, not based on it’s perceived politics. Back then the Times was delivered in the late afternoon.</p>
<p>our neighbor across the street was a sports editor. ( but we took the Times, probably for the afternoon delivery)</p>
<p>I also knew Dave Horsey in the mid 80s, *not * a conservative
I remember his wife complaining about all his toys. ( he really liked video cameras , but at least he knew how to work them)</p>
<p>I don’t read the political cartoons, but I used to like Boomer’s Song ( a strip similar to Doonesbury)</p>
<p>Absolutely love Horsey’s cartoons! Apparently, he will stay with the online version of the paper.</p>
<p>The Northlake Tavern near UW has his pizza-centered artwork on the walls. :)</p>
<p>I think dragonmom is right. Even at our house in the 1970s, dad preferred the Times over the P-I because the Times was the afternoon paper. He didn’t like to read in the morning.</p>
<p>I’m old enough to remember when newspapers had both Morning and Afternoon editions. </p>
<p>And when something special came up, **Special Editions. **</p>
<p>en at our house in the 1970s, dad preferred the Times over the P-I because the Times was the afternoon paper. He didn’t like to read in the morning.</p>
<p>Thats why I said blue collar/college.</p>
<p>My grandpa who worked swing or 2nd shift liked to read the paper * in the morning* when he got home from work.
My dad, who had a 9 to 5 desk job, preferred afternoon.</p>
<p>What will happen to the P-I’s neon globe atop the newspaper’s headquarters building?</p>
<p>By the way, R.I.P. also to…</p>
<p>The Washington Star
The Minneapolis Star
The Houston Post
The Denver Rocky Mountain News
The Atlanta Journal</p>
<p>You are gone, but not forgotten; Jack Germond, Mike Royko, Melvin Durslag, Red Smith…etc.</p>
<p>What will happen to the P-I’s neon globe atop the newspaper’s headquarters building?</p>
<p>They could move it slightly west to the " sculpture garden", I’d rather look at the globe than the " typewriter eraser"
[Local</a> News | Seattle P-I Globe will continue to spin | Seattle Times Newspaper](<a href=“http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008868553_webpiglobe16m.html]Local”>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008868553_webpiglobe16m.html)</p>