Former Seattle Times subscriber K.J. relates her conversation with customer service:
I called and cancelled my subscription. I told the CS rep that I was insulted the Blethen’s would call my opposition a “politically motivated hiss,” and instead of hissing I was cancelling my delivery and to be sure to tell Mr. Blethen I hadn’t forgotten about the time he shot his neighbor’s dog.
CS rep didn’t seem to know that story.
Over 19,000 citizens have joined the “Washington Tax Payers OPT OUT of Rob McKenna’s Lawsuit” Facebook group over the past week, yet the Times dismisses our opposition as a mere “politically orchestrated hiss.”
So if you’re sick and tired of being disrespected by Frank Blethen and his cronies, cancel your subscription and send a copy of your correspondence to me, and I’ll be happy to post it to HA, with or without attribution.
Did Blethen shoot his neighbors dog?
You might succeed in getting more folks to quit the Times if you provided a list of free alternatives. HA is good for a lot of things, but it’s a bit like getting your news from “The Daily Show”…it isn’t all encompassing (by design). Getting national political news is easy (TPM, Politico, Huffington) and NYTImes is great on overall news, but State/Regional news is tough: The PI site sometimes works, Washbucket is OK and Crosscut (often conservative) or the TNT…sometimes The Stranger is a fun choice. Still, I sure miss the PI.
Matt @2,
Well, first of all, you can always get the Seattle Times online, without handing your subscription money over to Blethen and his editorial board. Is that economically sustainable? No, but if the Times starts serving the interests of the community rather than actively working against it, perhaps some folks would re-subscribe.
I canceled my subscription over their endorsement of Hutchison and their anti-Dow articles – and bring it up every time they try to get me re-subscribe. They have taken to hanging up on me
In related news:
The Right loses again!
My letter to the Tacoma News Tribune:
Please cancel my subscription effective immediately.
I’ve maintained a full subscription to TNT because I wanted to support a local paper, with the understanding that it would cover the news regardless of the personal points of view of the news editors. If the news editors at TNT cannot understand the news value of an event like the healthcare reform rally on Sunday, then they cannot be trusted to report the news in any way acceptable to me.
Like the little girl in Saturday’s paper, I’ve had a heart transplant, and have been actively working for healthcare reform since 1990. The TNT’s efforts to belittle our work are pathetic beyond words.
@4 I didn’t hang up on them, because they kept calling back. I sicc’ed the attorney general on them, and then they quit calling me. And, oh yeah, I’ve been reading Frank’s rag FREE for 40 years! Nyaaaaaaaahhhh!!!!
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@6 When ordinary citizens do a better job of providing news coverage than the establishment press, it’s time for the newspaper industry to go under.
Ever since I first found this blog back in 2004 / 2005 I’ve been advicating Liberals can their subscription.
I’m so pleased that many of you have taken a stand against the Blethen family’s overtly biased news reporting by canceling the paper.
When the Seattle Times returns to a point of treating their unioin workers fairly (which is why I dropped them in 2000) and goes back to reporting the news instead of manufacturing it, I will GLADLY subscribe again.
Good on ya for those of you who did the right thing!
Frank Blethen shot his neighbor’s dog. Claimed an 11 month old yellow lab was ‘attacking him’.
http://www.seattlepi.com/archi.....060038.asp“>
http://www.seattlepi.com/archi.....300039.asp