Seattle and the future of newspapers

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's bid to survive online after publishing its last newspaper

All eyes in the newspaper industry are on Seattle, said Julie Moos in Poynter Online. On Tuesday, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer published its final print edition, and on Wednesday it debuted as an online-only product. It will be up to SeattlePI.com to prove that local news websites can succeed where so many newspapers are failing.

"Is the Web the newspaper industry's salvation?" asked Ed Oswald in Technologizer. "Likely not." Shrinking the Post-Intelligencer's newsroom staff from 165 to 20, and cutting out printing and distribution costs can't compensate for the big mistake newspaper executives still make online—they want to charge for information, and their readers expect it to be free.

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