The Seattle Post-Intelligencer goes to print for the last time tomorrow morning.
The Hearst Corp. announced Monday that it would stop publishing the 146-year old newspaper, Seattle's oldest business, and cease delivery to more than 117,600 weekday readers.
The company, however, said it would maintain seattlepi.com, making it the nation's largest daily newspaper to shift to an entirely digital news product.
It's an "entirely digital news product", but it's not the same product they were printing. It's now a slimmed down source of local news and opinion.
It's a tough time for newspapers.
Seattle follows Denver in losing a daily newspaper this year, after the Rocky Mountain news closed.
And in Arizona, Gannett's Tucson Citizen is set to close on Saturday, leaving one newspaper in that city.
Last month the San Francisco Chronicle said it plans to cut a "significant" number of jobs to meet cost-cutting targets, and that if the targets are not met, then the paper could be sold or closed down.
The New York Times is struggling to service debts of some $400m, amid dwindling cash reserves and plunging revenue.
Last year it had to mortgage its gleaming new headquarters (built in 2007 with much fanfare) to bolster its cash flow.
The Tribune Company, which owns the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the Baltimore Sun and many other titles, filed for bankruptcy in December, and although its newspapers remain in publication, the repercussions of the bankruptcy filing are likely to lead to restructuring.
Three other newspaper companies have also filed for bankruptcy in recent months.
They are Star Tribune Holding Corporation (which owns the Minneapolis Star-Tribune), the Journal Register Company (which owns the New Haven Register and a number of other titles in the North East), and Philadelphia Newspapers LLC (which owns Philadelphia's two top newspapers, the Inquirer and the Daily News).
In this city, we've got the Toronto Star, the Toronto Sun, the Globe & Mail and the National Post, as well as a couple of local papers, Eye Weekly and Now. And I'm not even getting into the free papers. Can they all survive?
