Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Seattle Post-Intelligencer - CLOSED
Category: Print Media
Update - 1/10/2009
The P.I., the oldest city daily newspaper, has got to look better in comparison with its erstwhile rival, the Seattle Times.

I actually think the quality of the newspaper is higher than that of the Times, despite the fact that its circulation has been much smaller and that it is literally smaller, i.e., about 2/3 the number of pages on any given day.

So I was saddened by the news that the news-stand edition, if not the online as well, will be folding in a couple of months. Apparently, its competitor had all along for some time been hoping to scuttle the joint arrangement in which the two newspapers had put out a Sunday edition--precisely in order to bring the P.I. to its knees.

A two-daily newspaper is a necessity here in Seattle, if only for reasons of competition and balance in the print media.

The Seattle Times is, famously, burdened by having a publisher who actually endorsed George W. Bush (against Al Gore in 2000), simply due to the latter's opposition to the capital gains tax (which would have made it easier for the Blethrens to pass their newspaper in dynastic fashion to the next generation of the family).

And then in 2004 AND 2008 endorsed Dino Rossi for governor.

The exit of the P.I. will unfortunately leave Seattle with only one unchallenged voice as far as a daily goes. Will the advertising revenue of the P.I. flow over to the Seattle Times?

In which case, the latter will become even fatter...
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12/7/2008
An(-other) inconvenient truth: There's nothing random about urban violence when one racial/ethnic group is overwhelmingly implicated.

I have always favored the Seattle P.I. over the Seattle Times, which has always loomed ominously over the former newspaper, threatening to scuttle their joint publishing arrangements and thereby eliminate its only rival.

But on one issue, the P.I. has a notoriously cowardly policy: refusing to publish a description of the race of victims and aggressors in violent crimes, unless the victim is African-American.

Obama wants a frank discussion about race in this country. The Seattle P.I. does not.

(By strenuously withholding information, the P.I. actually is fanning the flames of denial, racial suspicion, and fear. And it is encouraging people to not trust their own intuitions--instinct for self-survival--when they find themselves in situations of likely danger.

Violent street crime is epidemic all across urban America and that includes Seattle. Saying that Seattle is statistically better than Newark or Cleveland or L.A. does not alter the fact.

After the sucker-punch deaths this year of James Paroline and Tuba Man...

Or the severe brain injuries sustained by Ballard model teacher Joseph Skilling (who tried to call 911 when he witnessed a woman being harassed at a bus stop on E. Pine St. on Capitol Hill)...

Or the four robbing/beatings near Roosevelt High School in mid-October
(including that of a motorist who stopped and yelled at a youth who was punching a student in the face/head).

Or the rash of muggings in December--during the afternoon!--on the campus of the University of Washington...

Or the recent spate of killings near Garfield High School. Or all the other ones in the Central Area (think of "Philly Sub," both owners--separated in time by less than a decade--killed with a firearm) over the years.

But while, for instance, the Seattle Times and KOMO-TV identified the race of the assailants in at least some of the above cases, the P.I. has steadfastly refused to.

Why isn't it a "hate crime" when groups of black youth leave their own neighborhood to expressly go to an overwhelmingly white one--to rob and beat innocent [white] strangers?

If a group of white kids went to the Central Area to beat up black people, what do you think the media would be saying?

* * * * *

There are real racial fears here in Seattle. NOT offering descriptions of the aggressors, or their victims, is only feeding into racial tensions/fear.

We need to get a better idea of who is committing these acts of aggression and violence if only to be better able to target those particular communities that need help as well as those communities that need to ask serious questions about how they are raising, disciplining their children.

In some communities, a person who commits a crime is ostracized. Individuals with anti-social behavior(s) can be "brought into line."

I went to Roosevelt High School a while back. I heard of no violent crime in all those years in the neighborhood.

As one who has been been shoved and yelled at in public places, I frequently as well see and hear a lot of violent language and behavior.

And I have noticed that the groups or individuals are almost always young African-American men (or women). Not African (Ethiopian, Eritrean, Somalian, etc.) or Caribbean immigrants.

Socio-economic status and a history of past discrimination do not explain these negative behaviors, as most immigrants of whatever race, stripe, or impoverished origins--not having an evergreen ideology of (perceived) victim-hood--do not engage in them, at least not initially.

There is no intended racism in what I state here. Urban violence is linked to culture, not color of skin per se.

But there is a pattern, which I am trying to point, about which the P.I. is disingenuously clueless.

Newspapers have a responsibility to report the news. Not to conceal or censor it.

The Federal Way Mirror is forthright in its coverage of such news:
http://www.pnwloc...

* * * * *

It could have been you or me. The next time it MAY be you, a family member, a friend, or someone you know.

http://seattlepi....
http://blog.seatt...
http://www.queena...

Maybe the week(s) of snow and ice (Dec. 12 +) will create a temporary lull...ain't gonna freeze my toes, hell, no...

UPDATE (2-10-09)

The irony now is that when the P.I. does try to unblinkingly look at attempts by the Seattle Police to curb violent crime, the once-progressive NAACP jumps on its back instead of looking at the violence ("just a stereotype" they wishfully assert) within their own community:

http://www.thestr...

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