Bye bye, P.I.

Photo from Flickr

According to the Seattle P.I., the Seattle P.I. is being put up for sale, and probably closing:

The Seattle P-I is being put up for sale, and if after 60 days it has not sold, it will either be turned into a Web-only publication or discontinued entirely.

"One thing is clear: at the end of the sale process, we do not see ourselves publishing in print," said Steven Swartz, president of the Hearst Corp.'s newspaper division.

Swartz addressed the P-I's newsroom at about noon Friday, flanked by P-I editor and publisher Roger Oglesby and Lincoln Millstein, Hearst's senior vice president for digital media.

Read the rest in the Seattle P.I.

As far as depressing local news goes, this ranks up there with the Sonics leaving town and the gutting of Ballard (Sunset Bowl, Denny's, etc). The P.I. is the oldest paper in town, the building is one of Seattle's few remaining icons, and for the past thirty years (!) they have employed my favorite sports writer. I mean, what the hell am I going to do without Art Thiel in the morning? I might have to actually interact with my children at breakfast!

Going to an online format to fix their money problems, though, is a brilliant idea. After all, the internet is PAVED WITH GOLD! We here at Supersonicsoul make MILLIONS OF DOLLARS every day! Right, Pete? Right? Hello?

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go hug the Space Needle before they turn it into condos.