WASHINGTON (AFP)--The Seattle Post-Intelligencer published its
final print edition Tuesday and was reborn as an online publication
whose fortunes will be closely watched by the struggling U.S.
newspaper industry.
As the 146-year-old newspaper rolled off the presses for the
last time, SeattlePI.com, the Web site of the P-I, as the daily was
known, looked toward the digital future.
"One era ends, another begins," read a headline on a story on
the P-I Web site, which its publisher, Hearst Corp., has pledged to
transform "into the leading news and information portal in the
region."
The final commemorative edition of the newspaper, meanwhile,
looked to the past with a nod to its more than 110,000 faithful
readers.
"You've meant the world to us," read the headline on the front
page, which featured a picture of the enormous globe that topped
the P-I's headquarters and served as the newspaper's emblem.
The last print edition landed on doorsteps in the Seattle area
within hours of Hearst's announcement that it was shutting down the
daily, which racked up $14 million in red ink last year.
The development left Seattle - home to Microsoft Corp.,
Amazon.com Inc. and Starbucks Corp., and the biggest city in the
state of Washington - with just one daily newspaper, The Seattle
Times.
But it also paved the way for an online journalism experiment
that will be closely monitored by other U.S. newspapers and media
analysts.
"They are blazing a path right now in going online-only," Andrew
Donohue, editor of the Voice of San Diego Web site, told the
Columbia Journalism Review.
"Obviously it's brought about by their financial situation, but
it's exciting to see somebody try that before their financial
situation gets so bad that they can't do anything but close their
doors."
"This dramatic shift could be the catalyst behind a new era in
the news business," said Larry Kramer, a veteran newspaper reporter
and editor writing on The Daily Beast Web site.
"If Hearst is right, they will prove that an online local news
operation can be a good business," Kramer said. "Even if they fail
at this attempt, we will learn from their efforts."
The P-I is the largest daily newspaper in the United States to
make the leap entirely online.
The century-old Christian Science Monitor announced last year it
plans to fold its print edition in April and become the first
national newspaper to publish only on the Internet.
According to the P-I, SeattlePI.com will have an editorial staff
of about 20, down from the print edition's 150 staffers, and an
additional 20 people to sell advertising.
Hearst Newspapers president Steven Swartz said SeattlePI.com
wouldn't just be a "newspaper online."
"It's an effort to craft a new type of digital business with a
robust, community news and information Web site at its core," he
said.
The new Web site will provide a "great opportunity for us to try
out many of the theories journalism professionals and academics
have been throwing around for the past few years," said
SeattlePI.com executive producer Michelle Nicolosi.
"Is it possible to run an online-only local news site that
serves a city's readers well while turning a profit?" she asked.
"Is a digital news product a viable solution for cities whose
papers can no longer afford to operate?"
The P-I is the second major U.S. newspaper to shut down this
year. Like other dailies, it had been struggling with a steep
decline in print advertising revenue, falling circulation and the
migration of readers to free news online.
The E.W. Scripps Co.-owned Rocky Mountain News closed down in
February, leaving Denver, Colorado, with just one newspaper, The
Denver Post. Several other newspaper groups have recently declared
bankruptcy, including the Tribune Co., owner of the Los Angeles
Times, Chicago Tribune and six other papers.
Hearst's decision to close the P-I came after a fruitless effort
to find a buyer for the newspaper, which was founded in 1863 as the
Seattle Gazette.