Tuesday, March 17, 2009

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (P-I), the 146-year-old Seattle newspaper, will make its final print edition on today, before becoming an online-only news agency.

However, the online version is to be for local news only. The editorial staff would consist of twenty people, less than one-seventh of the 150 staff that were employed before the closure.

With this closure, the Seattle Times is now Seattle’s only major daily newspaper.

“We don’t feel like we have to cover everything ourselves. We’ll partner for some content; we won’t duplicate what the wire is reporting unless we have something unique to offer; we’ll continue to showcase the great content from our 150 or so reader bloggers and we’ll link to content partners and competitors to create the best mix of news on our front page,” said Michelle Nicolosi, who is to be the executive producer of the online paper.

The Hearst Corporation, the owner of the P-I, was not able to find a buyer for the newspaper when it was put up for sale back in January.

The newspaper industry in the country has been suffering as revenue from advertising plunges. Other newspapers in the United States have also shut down recently: Denver‘s Rocky Mountain News shut down earlier this year, whilst the Tucson Citizen of Arizona will print its final edition on Saturday.