 The July 4, 2006 front page ofThe Seattle Times | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner(s) | The Seattle Times Company |
| Publisher | Frank A. Blethen |
| Editor | Michele Matassa Flores |
| Founded | 1891; 134 years ago (1891) (asSeattle Press-Times) |
| Headquarters | 1000 Denny Way Seattle, Washington 98109 |
| Circulation | 210,156 (as of 2022)[1] |
| ISSN | 0745-9696 |
| OCLC number | 9198928 |
| Website | seattletimes.com |
The Seattle Times is an American daily newspaper based inSeattle, Washington. Founded in 1891,The Seattle Times has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and thePacific Northwest region.The Seattle Times Company, which owns and publishes the paper, is mostly owned by the Blethen family, which holds 50.5% of the company; the other 49.5% is owned bythe McClatchy Company. The Blethen family has owned and operated the newspaper since 1896.
The Seattle Times had a longstanding rivalry with theSeattle Post-Intelligencer until the latter ceased physical publication in 2009.
The Seattle Times has received 11Pulitzer Prizes and is widely renowned for itsinvestigative journalism.[2]
The Seattle Times originated as theSeattle Press-Times, a four-page newspaper founded in 1891 with a dailycirculation of 3,500, whichMaine teacher and attorneyAlden J. Blethen bought in 1896.[2][3] Renamed theSeattle Daily Times, it doubled its circulation within half a year. By 1915, circulation stood at 70,000.
The newspaper moved to theTimes Square Building at 5th Avenue and Olive Way in 1915. It built a new headquarters, theSeattle Times Building, north of Denny Way in 1930. The paper moved to its current headquarters at 1000 Denny Way in 2011. In 1966, the publication changed to its current name ofThe Seattle Times.[4]
The Seattle Times switched from afternoon delivery to mornings on March 6, 2000, citing that the move would help them avoid the fate of other defunct afternoon newspapers.[5] This placed theTimes in direct competition with itsJoint Operating Agreement (JOA) partner, the morningSeattle Post-Intelligencer.[6] Nine years later, thePost-Intelligencer became an online-only publication.[7]
TheTimes is one of the few remaining major city dailies in the United States independently operated and owned by a local family (the Blethens). The Seattle Times Company, while owning and operating theTimes, also owns three other papers inWashington, and formerly owned several newspapers inMaine that were later sold toMaineToday Media.[8][9]The McClatchy Company owns 49.5% of voting common stock in the Seattle Times Company, formerly held byKnight Ridder until 2006.[10]
The Seattle Times has received 11Pulitzer Prizes,[2] most recently in 2020 for its national reporting of theBoeing 737 MAX crashes[11] by reporters Dominic Gates, Mike Baker, Steve Miletich and Lewis Kamb. It has an international reputation for its investigative journalism in particular.[12] In April 2012, investigative reporters Michael Berens and Ken Armstrong won thePulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for a series documenting more than 2,000 deaths caused by the state of Washington's use ofmethadone as a recommended painkiller in state-supported care.[13] In April 2010, theTimes staff won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting for its coverage, in print and online, of theshooting deaths of four police officers in aLakewood coffee house and the 40-hour manhunt for the suspect.[14] A tenth Pulitzer Prize was awarded in 2015 for breaking news coverage of theOso mudslide.[15]
Times photographer Jerry Gay won the 1975Spot News Photography prize for "Lull in the Battle", an image of firefighters resting after fighting a house fire. In 1982, reporterPaul Henderson won thePulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for his coverage of the case ofSteve Titus. Titus had been wrongfully convicted of rape, and in a series of articles Henderson challenged the circumstantial evidence in the case, convincing the judge to reverse Titus' conviction.[16]
In February 2002,The Seattle Times ran a subheadline "American outshinesKwan,Slutskaya in skating surprise" afterSarah Hughes won the gold medal at the2002 Olympics.[17][18] Many Asian Americans felt insulted by the headline because Michelle Kwan is also American.[19] Asian American community leaders criticized the subheadline as perpetuating a stereotype that people of color can never be truly American.[19] The incident echoed a similar incident that happened with anMSNBC article during theWinter games in 1998,[19] which was reported on byTimes.[20] The newspaper's Executive Editor at the time of the controversy, Mike Fancher, issued an apology.[19]
On October 17, 2012, the publishers ofThe Seattle Times launched advertising campaigns in support ofRepublicangubernatorial candidateRob McKenna and astate referendum to legalizesame-sex marriage. The newspaper's management said the ads were aimed at "demonstrating how effective advertising withThe Times can be."[21] The advertisements in favor of McKenna represented an$80,000 independent expenditure, making the newspaper the third largest contributor to his campaign.[22] More than 100 staffers signed a letter of protest sent toSeattle Times publisher Frank Blethen, calling it an "unprecedented act".[23]
From 1983 to 2009, theTimes and Seattle's other major paper, theHearst-ownedSeattle Post-Intelligencer, were run under a "Joint Operating Agreement" (JOA) whereby advertising, production, marketing, and circulation were controlled by theTimes for both papers.[2] The two papers maintained their own identities with separate news and editorial departments.
TheTimes announced its intention to cancel the JOA in 2003, citing aclause in the JOA contract that three consecutive years of losses allowed it to pull out of the agreement.[24] Hearst sued, arguing that aforce majeure clause prevented theTimes from claiming losses as reason to end the JOA when they result from extraordinary events (in this case, a seven-week strike by members of the Newspaper Guild). While a district judge ruled in Hearst's favor, theTimes won on appeal, including a unanimous decision from theWashington State Supreme Court on June 30, 2005.[25] Hearst continued to argue that theTimes fabricated its loss in 2002. The two papers announced an end to their dispute on April 16, 2007.[26]
The JOA was terminated when thePost-Intelligencer ceased publication; its final printed edition was March 17, 2009.[7]
The Times contains different sections every day. Each daily edition includes Main News & Business, a NW section for the day, Sports, and any other sections listed below.[citation needed]
Friday: NW Autos; Weekend Plus
Saturday: NW Homes
Sunday: Business; ShopNW; NW Jobs; NW Arts & Life; NW Traveler; Pacific NW Magazine
Pacific NW is a glossy magazine published every week and inserted in the Sunday edition.
For decades, thebroadsheet page width of theTimes was13+1⁄2 inches (34 cm), printed from a 54-inch web, the four-page width of a roll ofnewsprint. Following changing industry standards, the width of the page was reduced in 2005 by 1 inch (2.5 cm), to12+1⁄2 inches (32 cm), now a 50-inch web standard. In February 2009, the web size was further reduced to 46 inches, which narrowed the page by another inch to11+1⁄2 inches (29 cm) in width.[27]
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Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting (2001–2025) | ||
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