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Seattle Press May Resume Publication Under New Ownership
By Tom Herriman
Jul 05, 2001 -- When I bought The Seattle Press after it had closed in the spring of 1998, I put up a big poster in the window with a likeness of Mark Twain and the message "Reports of the death of The Seattle Press have been greatly exaggerated."Fortunately, I kept the poster. It might be useful again.
In the last two weeks, several groups and individuals have expressed an interest in buying The Seattle Press and resuming publication, possibly as a weekly, in the near future.
Messages of shock and dismay from readers and advertisers started pouring into the office shortly after the announcement June 22 that we were suspending publication because of financial difficulties. Many callers wanted to know if anything could be done to save the paper.
The answer is, It will take some additional capital and a lot of hard work to save the paper and move through these challenging economic times.
It's really gratifying to know there are people in the community who want to see this happen.
Many of the calls were from advertisers who told me there's no other medium comparable to The Seattle Press for small to medium community oriented businesses. Our broad distribution area, color pages, high quality journalism and growing readership are unmatched by any other community paper.
The Seattle Press circulates in every neighborhood from downtown to the northern city limits and 90 percent of our 30,000 press run gets picked up by readers.
Some readers have called me in tears when they heard they might lose the paper for good. It now looks like a real possibility this period is going to be a transition rather than a shutdown. I'm going to do everything in my power to see the paper continue under new ownership.
I would welcome the opportunity to turn the paper over to a successor who will continue the tradition of a community-based newspaper that looks out for the interests of neighborhoods and families, and provides a diverse mix of news and points of view.
It's good to know there are many people in the community who don't want to see The Seattle Press die.
Tom Herriman
Editor & Publisher
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