Blethen Awards "Conduct Unbecoming"

We're chuckling a little at the idea of Frank "The P-I Is Killing Me" Blethen, publisher of the Seattle Times, having to hand the P-I an award with his name on it for its series critical of disciplinary problems in the King County Sheriff's Office, "Conduct Unbecoming."

The Pacific Northwest Newspaper Association award comes after the P-I's censure for the same series by the Washington News Council (scroll down to see their release) back in October. The plucky little P-I ("Hearst empire? What Hearst empire?") refused to participate in the proceedings -- and the News Council's criticisms did strike us as nitpicky, not addressing the larger issue of a persistent failure to deal with rogue officers.

Ironically, the P-I won three first-place Blethen Memorial Awards, while it appears the Seattle Times won two. (As an aside, the Times doesn't seem to be "with" this whole online thing yet. Their story doesn't hotlink to their winning article, "What's best for Baby M?," and their archive search is currently offering the web-casual message: "Zzzzz....your search has timed out. There are many reasons why this might happen. You may have luck if you simplify your search and try again." How much simpler can a search for "baby m" get?)

UPDATE: What's Best for Baby M?