Seattle Post-Intelligencer

I’ve been trying to gain four or five pounds for the upcoming swimming season (Buoyancy). And I’m well on my way thanks to this great and wildly sassy scallops recipe that kicked me out of my cooking slump:
Seared Scallops with Tropical Salsa
I guess you are no longer in print, but you found a way to salsa; and that’s pretty cool PI.
Yes, not as cool as Magnum PI, but it’s a start.
And that’s something to be proud of. Trust me.

I am very sad to see this go.
It means we now have only one local major voice and only oen set of headlines.
I appreciated the different views and options. Also the sudoku.
Maybe this change will provide more work and substance to the Seattle Weekly or the Stranger.
I HOPE SO!
Likely the Stranger will move up.

The P.I., the oldest city daily newspaper, has got to look better in comparison with its erstwhile rival, the Seattle Times.
I actually think the quality of the newspaper is higher than that of the Times, despite the fact that its circulation has been much smaller and that it is literally smaller, i.e., about ²⁄₃ the number of pages on any given day.
So I was saddened by the news that the news-​stand edition, if not the online as well, will be folding in a couple of months. Apparently, its competitor had all along for some time been hoping to scuttle the joint arrangement in which the two newspapers had put out a Sunday edition – precisely in order to bring the P.I. to its knees.
A two-​daily newspaper is a necessity here in Seattle, if only for reasons of competition and balance in the print media.
The Seattle Times is, famously, burdened by having a publisher who actually endorsed George W. Bush (against Al Gore in 2000), simply due to the latter’s opposition to the capital gains tax (which would have made it easier for the Blethrens to pass their newspaper in dynastic fashion to the next generation of the family).
And then in 2004 AND 2008 endorsed Dino Rossi for governor.
The exit of the P.I. will unfortunately leave Seattle with only one unchallenged voice as far as a daily goes. Will the advertising revenue of the P.I. flow over to the Seattle Times?
In which case, the latter will become even fatter…

Who gets their news from newspapers these days? Not me. Nonetheless, the daily newspaper is still a morning ritual — something to absorb the mind while the rest of the body consumes tea, toast and marmalade.
Last week I cancelled our daily subscription to the Seattle Times and switched to the Post-​Intelligencer. Why? Simple: the P-​I is a better breakfast paper. An earlier review in this space commented that the P-​I can’t decide if it’s a paper or a magazine, but therein lies its charm (to this reader, anyway.) The Times, on the other hand, is refusing to be anything but a newspaper, but most of its content these days consists of re-​heated AP wire stories, so its journalistic credentials are thin at best. (The tipping point for me came when I realized most of what I was reading every morning in the Times were stories I’d read on Yahoo! the previous afternoon.)
The P-​I is not on the same plane as say, the San Francisco Chronicle. Now THAT’s a great breakfast paper (I’d buy the paper for Jon Carroll’s columns alone.) But it’s a fun read. And if that’s what you look for in a newspaper, it’s the better choice.
[An aside — the newspaper business is suffering horribly, and purists will bemoan the decline in newspaper journalism and the trend, if it is one, of dailies going the «magazine» route, as it appears the P-​I might. But I submit it’s the smart move. If newspapers are to play a different role in today’s media landscape, being the first thing people read in the morning isn’t a bad position to be in. Even if what people are reading is the comics, the crossword, and the recipes.]
UPDATE: not a week after I wrote this, the PI announced it was up for sale and would likely close. So much for influence.

From one fashionista to the next my BFF Evangeline said:
«Condolences-​Jenni, (tears dropping down her face) as one of your all-​time favorite iconic fashion designers passed away.» (via text, email, and phone call) But the Seattle PI covered his passing by hailing him as a «Legendary designer».
It’s not just about Obama and Clinton right now, dammit! (tears dropping down my face)

The Seattle Times with a better logo.

I take the PI on Sunday as part of my lazy day ritual of lazin on the couch with something easy to read. The Editorials are predictable, International news is almost non-​existent, and Sports are formulaic. Overall, its an average city daily.
At work I skim thru it in about 10 minutes.
Wouldn’t recommend a full subscription.

The PI and the Times are both crappy newspapers, but the PI gets an extra star because they have (a) two crosswords, not one, (b) a baffling yet unique name, and © that fantastic neon globe that looks out over Puget Sound. Other than that, their photography’s terrible, their typography sucks, and one gets the impression that they’re conflicted about whether they’re a newspaper or magazine. One day, a photographic montage of American Idol’s Blake was all over the masthead. How is that okay? Is nothing sacred, not even the masthead? And there’s hardly any «news» to speak of… So many of the articles are provided by the «Associated Press,» etc. The writing’s bad. I don’t care if the staff’s on a deadline, something has to be done. I want to be proud of our city’s newspapers, but I’m ashamed.
Why can’t we have higher standards?
Update:
Haha, they closed.
Just sorry it wasn’t the Times instead.

I’ve heard of post-​modernism, but what the hell is post-​intelligence?
Okay, just kidding. I heard somewhere that the Seattle Times is formatted for old fogies who fondly remember the golden age of print media, whereas the PI is designed to appeal to the greed is good-​instant gratification-​I have young children so I can’t be freaking bothered to spend one extra second on paying attention to current affairs– set that tends to be in their thirties and forties. New columns such as Monica Guzman’s «Net Native» point to the fact that the PI is attempting to capture the twentyish demographic’s ephemeral attention span as well.
Wow did I just hate on every possible generation in one review? Oh yeah, I forgot about kids. Kids almost never read the paper, so I guess they suck too. Score!
Hmmmm. I’m pretty sure that review was post-​intelligent. Whatever that means.

Why choose the PI over the Times? Beats me, taste is subjective. I like the occasional reader essays and the photography and Susan Paynter’s column. I love the Outdoors section of the website — it’s loaded with great columns on hikes and getaways and other goodies. Karen Sykes is my hiking goddess. As far as I’m concerned we need both papers.

Another local newspaper with an online version.