Media Machinations, Sleep Aids and Forbidden Love
Knight Ridder, minority owner of the Seattle Times, got picked up by an outfit called McClatchy Co. this week which is unfortunate because McClatchy, while having a generally good reputation as far as journalism goes, also owns the Tacoma News Tribune and the Times and the News Tribune compete for readers who happen to live somewhere between the two cities. We realize that you may be comatose after reading that last sentence, if in fact you haven't moved on to reading something else by now. We can probably say anything right here and no one would be conscious enough to register what their eyes are telling them. Seattlest is wearing news print thong underwear and high heels as we write this and we're about to apply a second coat of gloss to our lips. Additionally, we have a thing for independent reporters. Not a sexual thing, despite the thong, but a thing.
While this story itself may impact you like a fistful of Ambien, you should at least take note that the independent contractor who was reporting on the JOA...we're losing you again. Hey! Clap clap! Bill Richards is in print again over at the Seattle Weekly. There, we got it out. And is Bill loosening the tie a bit now that he's out of the Seattle Times and comfortably between the pages of an alt-weekly? Oh we think so:
So far, neither McClatchy nor the Seattle Times Co. are saying much about any of these complexities, old or new. But when the dust settles, Pruitt [McClatchy] may look around and have some second thoughts about remaining in Seattle, giving McClatchy's Seattle experience all the permanence of a Belltown hookup.
He's really letting fly over there at the Weekly and he's also probably right. McClatchy has been divesting itself of some of Knight Ridder's papers and its share in the Seattle Times has got to be on the block given the JOA, McClatchy's successful operation down in Tacoma and the Blethen family majority owners of the Times who are notorious around the playground for not being the best sharers. The question remains who would want 49.5% of ye olde Seattle Tymes. Seattlest would like to submit an offer. Also, we're going to be keeping an eye out for Bill Richards on our next jaunt down First Ave. We'll be the ones all tarted up and sporting two weeks of stubble.
