Pundits Save the P-I, Hypothetically Speaking

An eerie, diorama-esque view of the P-I globe, by Seattlest Flickr pool member photocoyote.

Because the best chance of survival, from where we're sitting, is if they can get a bid in on a deep bored tunnel. Metblogs says the total projected bored tunnel cost is $4 billion, so the P-I could continue their $14-million-per-year burn rate and still hang around for...roughly 286 years. Now, double that $4 billion, because who knows...and that's 572 years of faithful news reporting!

But assuming they're not willing to get their hands dirty digging, there are other options. Over at Crosscut, where they have skin in the online-newspaper game, Bill Richards thinks Hearst might still have an online strategy up its sleeve. (Yes, but does it really include the P-I?)

TechFlash's John and Todd, both former P-I scribblers, have rounded up a list of twelve (un)likely newspaper buyer suspects and come up with a Hearst-less ten things Seattle could do to save the P-I.

Meanwhile, David McCumber has decided to blog the last days--and make a plaintive appeal for buyers to step forward. We can't imagine who would step forward to lose $14 million per year, but it is true that the P-I brand is ready for a new, online life. Much has been made about the P-I having no assets but its globe, but the most important assets it has are its culture and people. Once lost and dispersed, that's gone for good, and with it and them, a way of knowing who we are as a city, and where we came from.