Seattle 'Two-Newspaper Town' Battle Continues

By: Joe Strupp Members of Seattle's largest newspaper union have reportedly blocked an effort to cut support for a local group trying to preserve both of the city's daily papers by electing new members to the union's executive board who support the group.

In results tabulated Friday, the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild elected to its executive board two of five Seattle Times employees who have pledged to oppose ongoing support for the Committee for a Two-Newspaper Town, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Saturday. But the union also elected three Seattle Times employees who said they'd keep supporting the citizens organizations formed in July 2003 to intervene in litigation between the owners of the Post-Intelligencer and The Seattle Times.

The executive board is now comprised of more members from the Times, while the number of P-I employees on that body remains the same, the P-I reported.

"There was a slate of five candidates who identified themselves as against the Committee for a Two-Newspaper Town," Brown said. "But people voted for a diversity of representation and not on the basis of support for the committee."

The union represents about 750 Seattle Times employees and 150 P-I employees, Brown said.

The citizens group got involved in the case after The Hearst Corp., which owns the P-I, sued The Seattle Times Co. in April 2003 in an effort to preserve the Joint Operating Agreement that has linked the two papers since 1983. Under the JOA, The Seattle Times Co. prints, distributes, and markets both newspapers in exchange for a larger share of the profits.

In the most recent development in the JOA battle, the state Supreme Court agreed to review an appeals court ruling favoring The Seattle Times Co. Oral arguments are scheduled for Feb. 15.