The Barometer Online

Issue date: 4/3/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Jeff Wick Frank Blethen, CEO and publisher of The Seattle Times, answers questions about his lecture, which addressed current issues with local newspapers.

Frank Blethen, CEO and publisher of The Seattle Times newspaper, spoke last night at the LaSells Stewart Center on the pressing need to restore free press in America.

The speech was titled, "Reclaiming America's Independent Press and Saving Democracy." He focused on the current crisis that the newspaper industry is in and what effect it has on the democratic system.

He painted a grim picture of America, not only its free press, but its economy and self government. He said that the only way to stop this crisis was to reclaim the free press.

He said that there are only six remaining independent and privately owned newspapers in the nation and that 70 percent of newspapers are currently owned by absentee corporations. These corporations control the content of the newspaper.

"The bigger danger of them controlling what we know, is that they control what we don't know," Blethen said.

He explained that corporations' short term financial views will often sacrifice content and good journalism for profits and higher stocks.

Blethen also explained the financial crisis the industry is currently facing, though he said it is largely tied in with the recession that is affecting many other industries. He said that newspapers will have to ride it out the same as everyone else.

Blethen was able to debunk some of the myths about the newspaper and its place in the modern world. He said many believed that newspaper readership is decreasing and that it is giving way to the increased flow of online information.

"To the contrary, newspaper readership is very strong, and the industry's embrace of the Internet has added readers and given us the largest audience we have ever had in the history of the country," Blethen said.

Blethen went so far as giving solutions to many of the problems that he outlined. He called to localize newspaper ownership again and limit corporate ownership of newspapers. Some of the plans to increase funding that Blethen supported were tax credits for both subscribers of newspapers and to newspapers for hiring journalists.

Continued...

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