 | |
 Former P-I headquarters atMyrtle Edwards Park | |
| Type | Online newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet (until 2009) |
| Owner | Hearst Communications |
| Founded | December 10, 1863 |
| Headquarters | 2901 3rd Ave, Ste 120 Seattle,Washington, U.S. |
| ISSN | 0745-970X |
| OCLC number | 3734418 |
| Website | seattlepi.com |
TheSeattle Post-Intelligencer (popularly known as theSeattle P-I, thePost-Intelligencer, or simply theP-I) is anonline newspaper and former print newspaper based inSeattle,Washington, United States.
The newspaper was founded in 1863 as the weeklySeattle Gazette, and was later published daily inbroadsheet format. It was long one of the city's two daily newspapers, along withThe Seattle Times, until it became an online-only publication on March 18, 2009.
J.R. Watson founded theSeattle Gazette, Seattle's first newspaper, on December 10, 1863.[1][2] The paper failed after a few years and was renamed theWeekly Intelligencer in 1867 by new owner Sam Maxwell.[3]
In 1878, after publishing theIntelligencer as a morning daily, printerThaddeus Hanford bought theDaily Intelligencer for $8,000. Hanford also acquiredBeriah Brown's dailyPuget Sound Dispatch and the weeklyPacific Tribune and folded both papers into theIntelligencer. In 1881, theIntelligencer merged with theSeattle Post. The names were combined to form the present-day name.[2]
In 1886, Indiana businessmanLeigh S. J. Hunt came to Seattle and purchased theSeattle Post-Intelligencer, which he owned and published until he was forced to sell in thePanic of 1893.[4] At this point the newspaper was acquired by attorney and real estate developerJames D. Hoge under whom it was representative of an establishment viewpoint. It was the state's predominant newspaper. Circulation was greatly increased by coverage of theKlondike Gold Rush in 1897. Hoge, who was involved in other business, sought to find a buyer and sold in 1899. The newspaper was acquired with assistance fromJames J. Hill byJohn L. Wilson who had first started the Seattle Klondike Information Bureau. The newspaper was acquired by Hearst in 1921.
Circulation stood at 31,000 in 1911.[1] In 1912, editor Eric W. Allen left the paper to found theUniversity of Oregon School of Journalism, which he ran until his death in 1944.[5]
William Randolph Hearst took over the paper in 1921, and theHearst Corporation owns theP-I to this day.[2]
In 1936, 35P-I writers and members ofThe Newspaper Guild went onthree-month strike against "arbitrary dismissals and assignment changes and other 'efficiency' moves by the newspaper." TheInternational Brotherhood of Teamsters joined the strike in solidarity.[6] Roger Simpson and William Ames co-wrote their bookUnionism or Hearst: the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Strike of 1936 on the topic.[7]
Anna Roosevelt Halsted, the daughter ofFranklin andEleanor Roosevelt, began working as the editor of thewomen's page at theP-I after her husbandClarence John Boettiger took over as publisher in 1936. Boettiger left Seattle to enter theUnited States Army in April 1943, while Anna stayed at the paper to help keep a liberal voice in the running of the paper. After Boettiger's absence, the paper increasingly turned conservative with Hearst's new acting publisher. Anna left Seattle in December 1943 to live in the White House with her youngest child, Johnny. This effectively ended the Roosevelt-Boettiger ties with theP-I.[8]
On December 15, 2006, no copies were printed as a result of a power outage caused by theDecember 2006 Pacific Northwest storms. It was the first time in 70 years that publication had been suspended.[9]
On January 9, 2009, the Hearst Corporation announced that after losing money on it every year since 2000, Hearst was putting theP-I up for sale.[10][11] 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.[10][11] The news of the paper's impending sale was initially broken by local stationKING-TV the night prior to the official announcement, and came as a surprise to theP-I's staff and the owners of rival newspaperThe 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.[10] Five days before the 60-day deadline, theP-I reported that the Hearst Corporation had given severalP-I reporters provisional job offers for an online edition of theP-I.[12]
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.[13] The newspaper's publisher, Roger Oglesby, was quoted saying that theP-I would continue as an online-only operation. Print subscribers had their subscriptions automatically transferred toThe Seattle Times on March 18.
As of 2024[update], theP-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.[14]
From 1983 to 2009, theP-I andThe Seattle Times had ajoint operating agreement (JOA) wherebyadvertising,production,marketing, and circulation were run for both papers byThe Seattle Times company. They maintained separatenews andeditorial departments. The papers published a combined Sunday edition, although theTimes handled the majority of the editorial content while theP-I only provided a small editorial/opinions section.[citation needed] The JOA was proposed by Hearst in 1981 due to $14 million in cumulative financial losses incurred by theP-I.[15]
In 2003 theTimes tried to cancel the JOA, citing a clause in it that three consecutive years oflosses were cause for cancelling the agreement.[16] Hearst disagreed, and immediately filed suit to prevent theTimes from cancelling the agreement. Hearst argued that aforce majeure clause prevented theTimes 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 newspaperstrike).
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 theforce majeure issue. But after two appeals, theWashington State Supreme Court ruled in favor of theTimes on June 30, 2005, on theforce majeure clause, reversing the trial-court judge. The two papers settled the issue on April 16, 2007.
The JOA ended in 2009 with the cessation of theP-I print edition.[13]
TheP-I was notable for its two-timePulitzer Prize-winningeditorial cartoonist,David Horsey.[17]
Investigative reporting onKing County Superior Court JudgeGary Little's out-of-court contact with juvenile defendants revealed accusations that Littlemolested young boys while he was a teacher at Seattle's exclusiveLakeside 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 theKing County Courthouse. Theethical debates surrounding the publication of the story – and the network of connections that protected Little – are taught injournalism classes, and led to reforms in the way judges are disciplined in Washington state.
In 2006 theP-I became the subject of a complaint to theWashington News Council for its reporting on theKing CountySheriff's Office. The media watch-dog group ruled against theP-I, agreeing with Sheriff Sue Rahr's complaint that the newspaper had unfairly disparaged the Sheriff's Office.[18] TheP-I declined to participate in the proceedings, and opted instead to give a detailed reply on its website.[19]
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TheP-I is known for the 13.5-ton, 30-foot (9.1 m)neon globe atop its headquarters on theElliott Bay waterfront, which features the words "It's in the P-I" rotating around the globe and an 18-foot (5.5 m) eagle perched atop with wings stretched upwards.[20] The globe originated from a 1947 readers' contest to determine a new symbol for the paper. Out of 350 entrants, the winner was Jack (known as Jakk) C. Corsaw, a University of Washington art student.[21] The globe was manufactured in 1948[21] and was placed atop the paper's then-new headquarters building at 6th Avenue and Wall Street (nowCity University of Seattle). When the newspaper moved its headquarters again in 1986 to its current location on the waterfront, the globe was relocated to the new building.[20] Over the decades since its first installation, the globe has become a city landmark that, to locals, is as iconic as theSpace Needle.[citation needed] A stylized rendering of the globe appeared on the masthead of the newspaper in its latter years and continues to feature on its website.[22]
In April 2012, it was designated a Seattle landmark by the city'sLandmarks Preservation Board.[21][23] MayorEd Murray signed a city ordinance that had been passed by theSeattle City Council on December 17, 2015, that designated the globe as an official city landmark.[24][25][26][27]
In March 2012, the globe was donated to theMuseum of History and Industry, which planned to refurbish and relocate it,[28] but as of 2018[update], this had not occurred.
Notable employees of theP-I have included two-timePulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist and commentatorDavid Horsey, two-time Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporterEric Nalder,Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and authorTimothy Egan, journalist and author Darrell Bob Houston ("King of the Midnight Blue", a novel loosely based on the noted highjacking byD.B. Cooper), the novelistsE. B. White,Frank Herbert,Tom Robbins, Adam Schefter, andEmmett Watson, as well asLewis Kamb, a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting while working atThe Seattle Times,[29] andAndrew Schneider, who won two Pulitzer Prizes for specialized reporting and public service while working atThe Pittsburgh Press.[30]
Media related toSeattle Post-Intelligencer at Wikimedia Commons
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