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 The July 4, 2006 front page of The Seattle Times |
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| Type | Daily newspaper |
| Format | Broadsheet |
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| Owner | The Seattle Times Company |
| Publisher | Frank A. Blethen |
| Editor | David Boardman |
| Founded | 1891 |
| Headquarters | 1120 John Street Seattle, Washington 98109  United States |
| Circulation | 219,722 Daily[1] 423,635 Sunday (JOA)[2] |
| ISSN | 0745-9696 |
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| Website: seattletimes.nwsource.com | |
The Seattle Times, one of two daily newspapers serving Seattle, Washington, United States, is the largest daily newspaper in the state of Washington. Since 1983, the Times and Seattle's other major paper, the Hearst-owned Seattle Post-Intelligencer have been run under a "Joint Operating Agreement" (JOA) whereby advertising, production, marketing, and circulation are run by the Times for both papers.[3] They maintain separate news and editorial departments. The papers put out a combined Sunday edition, to which the P-I contributes only a few pages of editorial content.
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History
The Seattle Times originated as the Seattle Press-Times, a four-page newspaper founded in 1891 with a daily circulation of 3,500, which Maine teacher and attorney Alden J. Blethen bought in 1896.[3][4] Renamed the Seattle Daily Times, it doubled its circulation within half a year. By 1915, circulation stood at 70,000. As of October 2006, weekday circulation stood at 212,691.[5] The Times 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 the Times, also owns three other papers in Washington, as well as Blethen Maine Newspapers, which operate five newspapers based in Maine. The McClatchy Company owns 49.5 percent of voting common stock in the Seattle Times Company, formerly held by Knight Ridder. The Times reporting has received seven Pulitzer Prizes.[3] It has an international reputation for its investigative journalism, in particular.[6] Editorially, the Times is slightly more conservative than its sister paper, the P-I. It endorsed George W. Bush for president in 2000 (while the P-I endorsed Al Gore), but endorsed John Kerry in 2004. On December 15, 2006 only 13,000 copies of the Seattle Times were printed as a result of a power outage caused by the December 2006 Pacific Northwest storms.
JOA dispute
The Times tried to cancel the JOA in 2003, citing a clause in the JOA that three consecutive years of profit losses were cause for cancelling the agreement.[7] Hearst disagreed, arguing that a force majeure clause prevents the Times from claiming losses as reason to end the JOA when they result from extraordinary events (in this case, a seven week newspaper strike). Each side publicly accused each other of attempting to put its rival out of business, and Hearst soon filed suit. After several appeals, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Times on June 30 2005, a decision that could determine the future of both papers. Hearst promises more suits to challenge other aspects of the Times' attempt to pull out of the JOA. The two papers announced an end to their dispute on April 16 2007.[8]
Delivery
The Times was an afternoon paper until 2000, when it switched to morning delivery (like the P-I). The main reason stated was that delivery vehicles would be able to get around better in the early morning hours when street traffic was low; critics suspected the actual rationale was to compete more directly with the P-I.
References
- ^ 2007 Top 100 Daily Newspapers in the U.S. by Circulation (PDF). BurrellesLuce (2007-03-31). Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
- ^ Circulation figures include combined Seattle Post-Intelligencer and The Seattle Times for Sunday edition.
- ^ a b c Overview of the Seattle Times. The Seattle Times Company web site.
- ^ Crowley, Walt (2006-08-10). The Seattle Times publishes its first edition edited by new co-owner Alden J. Blethen on August 10, 1896. HistoryLink.org - The Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History.
- ^ Pryne, Eric. "Circulation falls again at Times, P-I; online readers up", The Seattle Times, 2006-10-31.
- ^ Outing, Steve (2005-11-16). Investigative Journalism: Will It Survive?. NetNovinar.org.
- ^ Richman, Dan; Phuong Lee. "JOA fight between P-I, Times may heat up", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 2006-01-26.
- ^ Pryne, Eric. "Seattle Times, P-I reach agreement to keep both newspapers publishing", The Seattle Times, 2007-04-17. Retrieved on [[2007-11-16]].
External links
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| The Seattle Times • Yakima Herald-Republic • Walla Walla Union-Bulletin • Issaquah Press Inc. weeklies Blethen Maine Newspapers: Kennebec Journal • Morning Sentinel • Portland Press Herald • Maine Community Publications weeklies |
