Report: P-I to be put up for sale
SEATTLE -- The future of one of the city's two daily newspapers was called into question Thursday by a TV station report, though top leaders at both papers appeared surprised by the report.
KING 5 reported at about 5 p.m. that "a source close to the deal" said Hearst Corp., owner of the Seattle P-I, would announce as soon as Friday that it's putting the P-I up for sale.
The report, which also appeared on the station's Web site, added that "Hearst does not expect another buyer to step forward and that Seattle will likely become a one-newspaper town within the next few months."
The P-I's managing editor said he knows of no plans to sell the paper. At about 5:15 p.m., soon after the report was aired, managing editor David McCumber told the newsroom's staffers, "If this is going on -- and I don't know that it is -- it's going on at a level that's far above me, and nobody has seen fit to clue me in. I think it's a bunch of rumor. You look at the state of this business -- it wouldn't surprise me if something was going on, but I have no knowledge of what that something is."
McCumber said that he had spoken to P-I editor and publisher Roger Oglesby by phone a few minutes before and that Oglesby "said almost exactly what I'm telling you."
Oglesby did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
KING 5 reporter Linda Byron said in an interview that she would not reveal her source but that she is "confident" about the information. She repeated that the source is "close to the deal."
Under a joint operating agreement between the P-I and The Seattle Times, the P-I must be offered for sale for at least 30 days before it can cease operation.
Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen said in a hallway off his main newsroom, "I'm stunned," according to a report from his newspaper.
Most nonmanagement Seattle P-I employees are represented by the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild. Guild Administrative Officer Liz Brown indicated via e-mail that the guild had not heard the news.
"We'll try to find out if it's true or not," she wrote Thursday evening.
Seattle P-I is a media partner of KOMO News.
KING 5 reported at about 5 p.m. that "a source close to the deal" said Hearst Corp., owner of the Seattle P-I, would announce as soon as Friday that it's putting the P-I up for sale.
The report, which also appeared on the station's Web site, added that "Hearst does not expect another buyer to step forward and that Seattle will likely become a one-newspaper town within the next few months."
The P-I's managing editor said he knows of no plans to sell the paper. At about 5:15 p.m., soon after the report was aired, managing editor David McCumber told the newsroom's staffers, "If this is going on -- and I don't know that it is -- it's going on at a level that's far above me, and nobody has seen fit to clue me in. I think it's a bunch of rumor. You look at the state of this business -- it wouldn't surprise me if something was going on, but I have no knowledge of what that something is."
McCumber said that he had spoken to P-I editor and publisher Roger Oglesby by phone a few minutes before and that Oglesby "said almost exactly what I'm telling you."
Oglesby did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
KING 5 reporter Linda Byron said in an interview that she would not reveal her source but that she is "confident" about the information. She repeated that the source is "close to the deal."
Under a joint operating agreement between the P-I and The Seattle Times, the P-I must be offered for sale for at least 30 days before it can cease operation.
Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen said in a hallway off his main newsroom, "I'm stunned," according to a report from his newspaper.
Most nonmanagement Seattle P-I employees are represented by the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild. Guild Administrative Officer Liz Brown indicated via e-mail that the guild had not heard the news.
"We'll try to find out if it's true or not," she wrote Thursday evening.
Seattle P-I is a media partner of KOMO News.