Hearst eyes online-only 'Seattle Post-Intelligencer'
SEATTLE -- Hearst Corp., owner of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, has made offers to some staffers to participate in an online-only version of the newspaper, the Post-Intelligencer reported Thursday.
An unspecified number of the Post-Intelligencer's 181 employees received "provisional offers" Wednesday and Thursday to work for the online venture, the newspaper said in a story posted on its website.
The paper, quoting two reporters, said the job offers would be formalized if a website is approved by Hearst's senior management.
Hearst announced Jan. 9 that it was putting the Post-Intelligencer up for sale and said that if it couldn't find a buyer in 60 days the paper would likely close or continue to exist only online. There has been no word on a possible buyer.
Calls by The Associated Press to Hearst spokesman Paul Luthringer were not immediately returned Thursday.
Post-Intelligencer Managing Editor David McCumber declined to comment. "I'd like this process to play itself out," he told the AP.
He said he did not know exactly when the Post-Intelligencer would cease publishing its print edition.
"I don't have a sense of that," he said Thursday. "There are a lot of moving parts, a lot of logistics, lots of things to be considered."
Permanent layoffs won't occur any earlier than March 18, Post-Intelligencer Publisher Roger Oglesby informed the state Employment Security Department in a January letter.
Hearst said in its January announcement that if it does become an Internet-only operation, the Post-Intelligencer would have a "greatly reduced staff."
Metro reporter Hector Castro said he received a provisional offer Thursday but declined it, saying the package wasn't good.
"They're talking about a small team of people working hard to make this a profitable venture," Castro said, adding that he didn't know how many people were offered positions.
A number of staffers contacted by the AP declined to comment.
Sports columnist Art Thiel said Thursday he had not been contacted and that the news of a possible online venture didn't surprise him.
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