Put to bed the last time.


On Tuesday, March 10, 2009, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer was put to bed the last time, after 146 years of publishing. Seattle residents are left with one newspaper, the Seattle Times.

In February 2009, the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colorado, was also put to bed the last time after nearly 150 years, leaving the city as another with just one newspaper, the Denver Post.

I personally experienced the death of a newspaper nearly 30 years ago. The Morning Courier of Champaign-Urbana, after a 102-year history, published for the last time on March 31, 1979. Champaign-Urbana used to be a two-newspaper town. The Morning Courier was a client of mine.

The Courier and the News-Gazette were both afternoon newspapers; however, declining circulation numbers forced the Courier to rethink its survival strategy and they switched to the traditional morning mode. Unfortunately, the twin cities could support only one newspaper (in addition to the University of Illini student-run newspaper the Daily Illini.)

My mornings are incomplete without reading the print editions of my copies of the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times. Most days, I have already read the web editions of other news publications before sitting down with my newspapers and a cup of green tea or black coffee. Pure bliss!

I am an avid reader of newspapers. Wherever my travels take me, I buy the local paper(s) and immerse myself in the read – one of the easiest ways of gaining a knowledge and understanding of the local customs and get a flavor of the city and its populace.

In the last few years, I have been to Seattle a number of times. The Post-Intelligencer was a part of my daily diet while there. Somehow, I don’t believe I will be visiting their web edition to get my dose of Seattle the next time I visit that beautiful city.