The Seattle Times

The July 4, 2006 front page of The Seattle Times
Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Broadsheet
Owner	The Seattle Times Company
Publisher	Frank A. Blethen
Editor	David Boardman
Founded	1891
Headquarters	1120 John Street Seattle, Washington 98109  United States
Circulation	263,588 Daily [1] 359,671 Sunday[1]
ISSN	0745-9696
Website	seattletimes.nwsource.com

The Seattle Times is a newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, USA. It is the largest daily newspaper in the state of Washington. From 1983 to 2009, the Times and Seattle's other major paper, the Hearst-owned Seattle Post-Intelligencer, were run under a "Joint Operating Agreement" (JOA) whereby advertising, production, marketing, and circulation were run by the Times for both papers.^[2] They maintained separate news and editorial departments. This arrangement ceased on March 17, 2009, when the Seattle Post-Intelligencer ceased publication, leaving The Seattle Times as Seattle's only major daily newspaper.

History

The Seattle Times originated as the Seattle Press-Times, a four-page newspaper founded in 1891 with a daily circulation of 3,500, which Maine teacher and attorney Alden J. Blethen bought in 1896.^[2][3] Renamed the Seattle Daily Times, it doubled its circulation within half a year. By 1915, circulation stood at 70,000. As of September 2009, weekday circulation stood at 263,588.^[1]

The Times is one of the few remaining major city dailies in the United States independently operated and owned by a local family (the Blethens). The Seattle Times Company, while owning and operating the Times, also owns three other papers in Washington. The McClatchy Company owns 49.5 percent of voting common stock in the Seattle Times Company, formerly held by Knight Ridder.

The Times reporting has received seven Pulitzer Prizes.^[2] It has an international reputation for its investigative journalism, in particular.^[4]

Headline controversy

In February 2002, the Seattle Times ran a subheadline 'American outshines Kwan, Slutskaya in skating surprise' after Sarah Hughes won the gold medal at the 2002 Olympics. Many Asian Americans felt insulted by the Times actions even after the newspaper apologized, because Michelle Kwan is also American.^[5]

The Joint Operating Agreement

The Times announced its intention to cancel the Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) in 2003, citing a clause in the JOA contract that three consecutive years of losses allowed it to pull out of the agreement.^[6] Hearst sued, arguing that a force majeure clause prevented the Times from claiming losses as reason to end the JOA when they result from extraordinary events (in this case, a seven week newspaper strike). While a district judge ruled in Hearst's favor, the Times won on appeal, including a unanimous decision from the Washington State Supreme Court on June 30, 2005.^[7] Hearst continued to argue that the Times fabricated its loss in 2002. The two papers announced an end to their dispute on April 16, 2007.^[8]

Delivery and page width

The Seattle Times was an afternoon paper for 104 years until March 6, 2000. ^[9] It switched to morning delivery to avoid the fate of other afternoon newspapers that had shut down.^[10] This placed the Times in direct competition with its JOA partner, the morning P-I.

For decades, the broadsheet page width of The Times was 13½ inches (34.3 cm), printed from a 54-inch web, the four-page width of a roll of newsprint. Following changing industry standards, the width of the page was reduced in 2005 by 1 inch (2.54 cm), to 12½ inches (31.8 cm), now a 50-inch web standard. In February 2009, the web size was further reduced to 46 inches, which narrowed the page by another inch to 11½ inches (29.2 cm) in width.^[11]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Seattle Times

• The Seattle Times online