Seattle Times 2021 anniversary message to the community

publisher’s Note

This is the first of the two-part annual message from publisher Frank Blethen, which focuses on the hope and fragile state of our local system of free press. Part two will run after Labor Day and will focus on the Seattle Times’ innovative transformation from a traditional print newspaper to a versatile content company.

Dear Reader:

This week marks the 125th anniversary of the Seattle Times. We are the oldest uninterrupted family run subway newspaper company in the United States.

In recent years we have used this opportunity to explain the national crisis of our failing local free press system – how this crisis has threatened our democracy, exacerbated social faults and divisions, and allowed destructive misinformation to spread. Today, for the first time in three decades, I can say that we are seeing hopeful signs of saving and rebuilding our democratic platform – the local free press system!

Of course, the crisis is not over yet.

The period from 2008 to 2021 was the most destructive time in American history for our once-lauded local free press. During this time, absent financial mercenaries hastened the acquisition and divestment of local newspapers. Hedge funds now control the majority of our country’s newspapers. They are in the final stages of reaping every penny by downsizing newsrooms and eliminating valuable local content. Since 2008, the United States has lost 57% of newspaper editorial jobs – a decrease of 40,000 local journalists. Most local newspaper newsrooms are severely understaffed, leaving too few journalists behind to hold the authorities accountable to the public. Between 2004 and 2020 we lost 71 daily and 2,196 weekly newspapers. Many of the remaining daily newspapers are “ghost newspapers” with almost no quality-related content.

Yet Americans trust their local newspapers, even bad ghost newspapers with minimal local content. Our tendency is to value the familiar and what is present in our own communities, even when it no longer meets our civic needs.

The new hope comes from Congress, which has recognized the severity of the crisis. Under the leadership of Congress and the President, the next few months are an opportunity to lay the groundwork for restoring accountability to local newspapers – and to begin rebuilding the relevant local content that feeds vibrant, engaged communities.

We take great pride in the bipartisan leadership of our Washington State delegation in DC to stop the bleeding of local newspaper jobs, end the advertising monopoly of Google and Facebook, end free newspaper content, and introduce some common sense to social media bring to. Most of all, we appreciate their understanding of the critical need to subsidize the ubiquitous availability of independent local news and content to all citizens, something our founders understood when they used the US Postal Service for the express purpose of distributing and making news and information available established a system of local independent publications.

Over the past decade, our delegation has become the most knowledgeable and active delegation in the country on issues relating to the local free press system and is a model of non-partisanship.

In June, Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) Co-sponsored the Local Journalism Sustainability Act, HR3940, with Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.). At the end of July Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) Presented her Senate companion S.2434 with the co-sponsors Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) And Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). In 2019, Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) Led the passage of The Save Community Newspapers Act, which saved more than 20 local newspapers across the country, including the Blethen family administrations in Seattle, Yakima and Walla Walla. Sen. Cantwell, former Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.), Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) Played a key role.

That year, Sen. Cantwell and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., Led Congress to advance steps to curb and reform the big tech monopoly of advertising, the spread of false information, and the gratuitous use of newspaper content.

Washington is luckier than most states in that Seattle, Yakima, Walla Walla, Spokane, Vancouver, and Centralia still have a core of local daily family administrations. However, more than half of the daily newspapers in our state are now ghost newspapers, the newsrooms of which have been cut to the bone by hedge funds. The only good news here is the opportunity for our local communities, with the support of Congress, to take over and rebuild the management of the local newspapers.

Without viable local community newspapers to help us center ourselves and maintain hope, courtesy, and a connection to the community, we will continue to walk down the proverbial rabbit hole – and our democracy will follow.

What you can do:

Let our delegation know that you appreciate their work in saving the local free press and tell them the importance of getting the laws passed this year. In the longer term, accelerate the reform of the big tech advertising monopoly. The supporting legislation is only a five year lifeline. It is vital that a major technology reform be achieved during this time.

Let the White House know how you are feeling. What is missing and needed now is visible, vocal guidance from the President. President Biden’s recently formed “A-Team” to take on the tech giants was an excellent move that will most likely help the free press, but it will take time. It will not solve the current crisis of laying off local newsrooms. Biden’s support for the Local Journalism Sustainability Act is important as it is the short-term lifeline required to stop layoffs and work on other aspects of the evolving business model.

Finally, thank you. While our family’s 125 year mission is to provide you with the best regional newspaper content in the country, it would not be possible without you. Your subscription support and your support for our nationwide unique joint funding of public service journalism were the key to our survival. In addition, your support has made it possible for us, as one of the few regional newspapers in the country, to hire new employees and to expand the essential reporting. Thanks to your investment, we now have more than 20 additional newsroom positions.

In gratitude and appreciation

Frank

Frank Blethen
is editor of the Seattle Times and great-grandson of the 124-year-old founder.