I love irony.
You know, like when a snotty suburban newspaper like the King County Journal runs a divisively arrogant editorial bashing the region’s urban core (“While suburbs shine, Seattle seems shabby“)… only to learn a few hours later that they’re being shut down by their new corporate owners.
Talk about shabby. At least some of us urine-stained, crack-addicted city folk still read newspapers.
I don’t particularly like the Journal — it’s not an engaging read and its op/ed page often out-Blethens the Blethen-owned Seattle Times — but I don’t particularly celebrate the passing of any daily newspaper. Not even the sucky ones.
Still, you gotta love the irony.
Goldy,
There doesn’t appear to be much interest in this one. Your post is over two hours old, and there aren’t any comments. Do you think a lot of people are off work today?
No, those of us in the ‘burbs just read the Times and P-I like everyone else in the area.
As the eastside got more democratic, the King County Journal looked more anachronistic.
It’s unfortunate there is no eastside paper because the eastside has a different perspective and a different set of priorities (think 520 vs. the Viaduct) than the city and would be served by a paper that reflected those sensibilities.
At least, perhaps sleeping late…
As to the Eastside Journal, we enjoyed reading it while my wife was in Group Health Hospital earlier this year. Sort of a juxtaposition of doomed institutions.
The eastside DOES have a daily paper. Isn’t the Times printed in Bothell? And the PI too for that matter. For all of the posturing by Bellevue’s government and civic leaders-can it be considered a “real” city if it doesn’t have a daily newspaper?
5 Nah…you’re not a “real” city until you have a couple of weekly rags with sex ads in the back with local phone numbers.
Over the past couple years, most of my neighbors quit reading the KCJ. It was a very conservative paper. Didn’t they notice their heartland (south King County) was becoming more Progressive? The 47th Leg. District went from 3 R’s to 3 D elected legislators in the past four years. We all appreciate a variety of opinions, but we are inundated with FOX, Rush, Hannity and Ann Coulter. Enough is enough. The Tacoma Tribune gradually working its way north was the final nail in the coffin. Why would anyone read (or advertise in) the KCJ when the Tribune was available? I’ll miss the KCJ because I enjoyed their pain and John Carlson’s column after recent elections. I’ll try to be a better person in 2007.
I READ KCJ FOR ONE REASON: DON WARD.
I LOVE THAT GUY!
LMAO!!
My take on this is that this is just another example of the decline of the print media…
the KCJ circulation was on the decline as is most print media these days….
First the small ones will go then the larger ones…
The Times and PI must look at this as a very bad omen. Could be a look into the crystal ball of the fate that awaits them…
@7: Did the KJC run John Carlson? If so, I wouldn’t wonder that they were getting ever more out of step with their readership.
I was at the UW when Carlson “edited” the conservative campus rag. He was a retard then – hasn’t changed in 20 years.
I’ve been hearing from insiders for a long, long time that Peter Horvitz never really wanted to be in the newspaper business, and has been running the company into the ground since he inherited it. Too bad he didn’t peddle it long ago to someone with more printer’s ink running in his or her veins when the Bellevue paper still had enough circulation and advertiser support to be viable.
I know this is going to make Goldy cringe, but it almost makes one appreciate the Blethens.
Wow… Is this a reaching post. This has absolutely nothing to do w/ conservative vs liberal.
Newslflash Goldy, print meida is having increasing problems with profitability.
You of all people should recognize that more and more people are going to the internet as opposed to buying a print publication.
As the king county journal has small circ #;s, a daily responsibility and a huge overhead. Adiitionally, print advertising is becoming less effective.
This is a wise decision and a pattern we are certain to see more of.
One of the great stupidities of the last two decades around here is the management into the ground of this daily newspaper as the economy around it grew and grew.
Sure, all newspapers are challenged now. But there are examples of suburban newspapers that thrive. And there’s hardly a suburban center anywhere in the world that has thrived more than the one the King County Journal served for the past 20 years.
The newspaper served one of the world’s technology capitals, yet its web site was extremely lousy. It served an extraordinarily smart and progressive community and yet the newspaper was dumb and mostly kneejerk stupidly conservative. Some fine writers worked there. But they were always way overstretched under Horvitz, who never seemed to get that he was running a newspaper. The best left. I agree with those who believe that he just didn’t give a damn.
There was delicious irony in the newspaper’s last juvenile editorial before its obituary. That editorial is just another example of the dumb turfy nuttiness the King County Journal editorial page came to specialize in. Time after time, economic development gurus have arrived in Bellevue and suggested that it build off its proximity to Seattle, and quit tying to compete. And yet when Bellevue was considering building a landmark tower, what Kemper Freeman cared about most was “make sure its taller than the Space Needle.” There are few things that symbolize the fall of the King County Journal better than that – and thinking like it.
The newspaper’s downfall is just another indicator that the Eastside is coming into its own and will no longer be led by a few big shots with meanspirited Seattle-envy and retrograde notions on politics. It is sad to see a newspaper fold.
But this is a case where it’ll simply be a relief to watch the King County Journal be put out of its misery.
John Wyble says: As the eastside got more democratic, the King County Journal looked more anachronistic.
It’s unfortunate there is no eastside paper because the eastside has a different perspective and a different set of priorities (think 520 vs. the Viaduct) than the city and would be served by a paper that reflected those sensibilities. 12/29/2006 at 9:26 am
I thought those same qualities you blog about above were to help Darcy Moonbat! win. I guess NOT!
I know many people who actively read the King County Journal. 39k to be exact. I’m sure Black Press will try to woo readers into the soon to be expanding Reporters. There may be some sort of resurrection in South County or Eastside to compete. Will TNT expand North. Will Times and PI focus on Eastside? What’s sad about Horvitz is that he never fully embraced new media to tap into a new revenue stream. From there he couldn’t retain his best and brightest employees. From what I heard, staff cuts really took a toll and employees there were really stretched thin. I will really miss some of the local content but the layout and website were 2nd rate. King County Journal, may you rest in peace.