Barry Bonds Prober, George Mitchell, Couldn?t Cool Down Warring Seattle JOA

By: Mark Fitzgerald Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell--who oversaw peace negotiations in Northern Ireland and who was named Thursday to head the probe into baseball player Barry Bonds? alleged steroid use--was no match for the warring parties in the Seattle newspaper joint operating agreement (JOA), a senator revealed Thursday.

In a statement issued by her office, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington state Democrat, said that in the fall of 2004 she had become alarmed by the increasingly contentious litigation between the Blethen family-controlled The Seattle Times Co. and Hearst Corp., publisher of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

?I was concerned that a protracted and costly litigation process could jeopardize our access to a strong newspaper industry for years to come,? Murray said. ?So, in the fall of 2004, I reached out to the leaders of both companies--Frank Blethen and (Hearst Corp. President and CEO) Victor Ganzi--and asked them to consider mediating their dispute. I was glad when they both agreed to do so.?

That October, Murray said, she asked Mitchell to help mediate the dispute. He met with the parties--but failed to heal the deep divide between the Times Co., which argues the expense of producing the market-lagging P-I threatens the viability of its Seattle Times, and Hearst, which says the P-I would fold if the JOA were dissolved.

?Despite much effort, that process ultimately failed,? Murray said, ?but it helped lead the parties to conclude that protracted litigation was not in the best interest of either resolving their dispute or the public that they serve. I couldn't agree more.?

Murray issued the statement in reaction to Thursday?s surprise announcement that the two companies had agreed to refer the main issues in their dispute to binding arbitration.

She said the announcement accomplishes two important things. ?First, it provides a framework under which the Seattle Times and Hearst can settle their dispute,? Murray said, ?Second, it assures the public that their access to the news they need will rest on a stable foundation.?