Oregon Public Broadcasting

Seattle will be a two-newspaper town for just one more day.  The Seattle Post-Intelligencer will print its final edition Tuesday.

P-I Editor and Publisher Roger Ogelsby told staff about the paper’s future plans.  He says, starting Tuesday, the paper will become an Internet-only news outlet.

Roger Ogelsby: “It’s not going to be what the P-I as a newspaper has been. It’s going to be a different kind of experience. It’s a different format. I’m not here to tell you we’re going to be translating the newspaper into a website. That’s not what it’s going to be. But it will be a strong editorial voice.”

About 20 people from the P-I’s current editorial staff will continue to work for the online paper.  The list includes longtime staffers Art Thiel,  Joel Connelly and Dave Horsey. 

Ogelsby says the website will also pull in content from blogs, magazines and other news sites.

Meanwhile, a separate group of P-I staffers plans to spin-off as an independent online venture.  Reporter Lewis Kamb says they would likely focus on investigative reporting.

Lewis Kamb: “One thing that seattlepi.com may end up lacking will be some of the depth that other staffers were able to bring – the accountability, watchdog journalism. That’s less the other breaking news type stuff that seattlepi.com seems to be going after.”

Kamb says the project is in the early stages.  And they still need to figure out how to fund it.

The final P-I to roll off the presses will be a thick, commemorative edition.  It will trace the paper’s 146-year history as Seattle's oldest daily.

The P-I is the largest American newspaper to shift entirely to the Web.