Seattle Post-Intelligencer ceases publication

The Hearst-owned Seattle Post-Intelligencer will become an online-only news publication today. It is becoming for the staffs at closing newspapers to produce a video highlighting the accomplishments and lamenting the loss.  Here is the PI’s;

Starting Wednesday, the P-I, as it is known, will focus mostly on commentary, advice and links to other news sites, along with some original reporting with a staff of about 23 people.

Hearst’s San Francisco newspaper, The Chronicle, is in financial trouble as well.  Over the weekend, the newspaper Guild voted to accept the cost-cutting terms laid out by publishing company.  The terms include the loss of about 150 jobs and cuts in benefits to those who would remain.

In an unusual move to try and save The Chronicle, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has written a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder to allow Bay Area newspapers more leeway to consolidate business operations.  The San Francisco Democrat asked the Justice department to weigh the public benefit of saving The Chronicle and other papers from closure against the agency’s antitrust mission to guard against anti-competitive behavior.

“We must ensure that our policies enable our news organizations to survive and to engage in the news gathering and analysis that the American people expect,” Pelosi wrote.

According to the blog, PaperCuts, which has been tracking job losses in the newspaper industry, more than 5,622 newspaper workers have lost their jobs in the industry so far.

Related posts:

1. Rocky Mountain News folds
2. Huffington Post passes LA Times and Washington Post in unique visitors
3. The Great Newspaper Debate
4. Chris Hedges on the dying newspaper industry
5. Tampa Trib Re-organizes