From ink stained wretches to pixel drained Post-Intelligencer

NY Times:

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper will produce its last printed edition on Tuesday and become an Internet-only news source, the Hearst Corporation said on Monday, making it by far the largest American newspaper to take that leap.

But the P-I, as it is called, will resemble a local Huffington Post more than a traditional newspaper, with a news staff of about 20 people rather than the 165 it has had, and a site consisting mostly of commentary, advice and links to other news sites, along with some original reporting.

The site has recruited some current and former government officials to write columns, and it will keep some of the popular columnists and bloggers who already work there, in addition to the large number of unpaid local bloggers whose work appears on the site. Hearst also plans to repackage material from its large stable of magazines for the site.

The site described by executives might compete less directly with the P-I’s traditional rival, The Seattle Times, than with another local news and commentary site, Crosscut. Hearst hopes to capitalize on the healthy Web traffic The P-I already has, about 1.8 million unique visitors a month, according to Nielsen Online. It usually outranks the online readership of its traditional rival, The Seattle Times, despite having much smaller print circulation, 118,000 on weekdays last year, compared with 199,000 for The Times.

The P-I lost $14 million last year, according to Hearst, and its transition to an all-digital product will be closely watched in an industry that is fast losing revenue, is casting around for a new economic model and still relies on print for about 90 percent of its revenue. The company recently instructed all of its newspapers to look for ways to charge for digital content — on mobile devices, if not online.

...

I think we are likely to see more of this. It has to dramatically decrease the distribution cost. Hearst may use this as a model in other cities where its traditional papers are struggling. I think it is a model that can work is they can keep some interesting content.

For someone like myself it makes little difference. I have not subscribed to a hard copy of a newspaper in 10 years. I would much rather get the content off the net. It does not get my hands dirty and I don't have to haul it 20 miles to the dump when I am done with it.

It is surprising that the environmental movement has not been pushing others into this mode. It makes more sense than attacking SUVs.