By: E&P Staff The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is officially becoming an online-only publication, parent company Hearst Corp., announced today.
The final print edition of the paper will be distributed on Tuesday.
"Our goal is to turn seattlepi.com into the leading news and information portal in the region," Frank A. Bennack, Jr., vice chairman and CEO of Hearst, said in statement.
The P-I will cover breaking news, City Hall, the court system and maintain blogs like Seattle 911 and the Big Blog. Michelle Nicolosi has been tapped to serve as the site's editorial leader. She was previously executive producer of seattlepi.com.
Staffers including Chris Grygiel, Levi Pulkkinen, Casey McNerthney, Monica Guzman and columnists including Joel Connelly, Art Thiel, Jim Moore as well as cartoonist David Horsey will continue working with the P-I.
"The Web is first and foremost a community platform, so we'll be featuring new columns from prominent Seattle residents; more than 150 reader blogs, community data bases and photo galleries," Steven Swartz, president of Hearst Newspapers, said in a statement.
The P-I is forming a local digital agency that will go after Seattle and area businesses for advertising. The P-I is also part of the Yahoo newspaper consortium.
The move effectively puts an end to the joint operating agreement with The Seattle Times Co. On Jan. 9, Hearst announced it was selling the P-I and its interest in the JOA. No interested buyer emerged, Hearst said.
According to Nielsen Online, the Web site of the P-I had 1.8 million unique users in February, down 19% year-over-year. The Seattle Times had 1.5 million uniques, down 25% year-over-year.
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