Proposal

The Once and Still Two Newspaper Town:

The Seattle Times and Seattle P-I

Go Forward Despite Differences 

 

As our group looked at media ownership, the obvious issue of the Seattle Times/P-I joint operating agreement (JOA) came to our minds, particularly as it was expected to play out during our 10-week session in the form of a binding, arbitrated agreement.   Even as the landscape of journalism has changed in the Emerald City, the Times and P-I combine to sell about 350,000 daily papers and more eyeballs find themselves on their websites. 

Our proposal is to look at the competition between these two papers from the perspective of the affected parties – readers, journalists, owners and interested third parties.   Of particular note is the influential Committee for a Two Newspaper Town, co-chaired by trial attorney Anne Bremner and retired Washington State Supreme Court Justice and former state Senator, Phil Talmadge.  We will accomplish this overview of Seattle’s two-newspaper ownership dilemma as follows: 

1. Interview members of CTNT, people on the street, journalists and communication students at the University of Washington to developa 360-degree view of the issue. 

2. Describe the origins of the JOA, the nature of the dispute between the two publications that brought Seattle, like most  U.S. cities, to the brink of becoming a single-paper operation. 

3. Look at the current and future prospects for both papers until the recently revised JOA runs out in 2016 against the background of declining circulation and increased online alternatives.