re: "As Cities Go From Two Papers to One, Talk of Zero" NYT Article

After 146 years, our northern neighbor, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, is preparing to publish its final print edition. This will leave the Seattle market with only one major daily.

And in January, the Oregonian's Sandy Rowe expressed the sad state of affairs to a room full of PR professionals:

Media companies’ stock prices plummet and put some of the former jewels of the newspaper world up for sale. Pesky things, facts are.

• In December, the Tribune Company - with papers in Chicago, LA, Orlando and Baltimore - sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. 
  
• Copley newspapers is holding a fire sale of its Union-Tribune in San Diego with no one yet showing sufficient interest for purchase. 
  
• Cox newspapers is trying to dump the very profitable Austin Texas American Statesman and other smaller papers, in part to help cover the losses at its flagship Atlanta Journal Constitution, which is said to be losing a million a week. 
  
• [And finally], Hearst Company, also losing money, estimated at a million a week, [for] SF [Chronicle] has now put the Seattle Post-Intelligencer up for sale with closure expected, not a buyer.
  

So what's Rowe's take on all this depressing news?  "The future of the newspaper is decidedly not just in print."  And it's a good thing she thinks so, too, because the Oregonian is shrinking both in size and staff.  She said the Oregonian is going to serve the community with a daily paper, a growing Web site and specialty magazines, such as "homes+gardens northwest."

Want to get your company's story in the print edition?  First, get in line.  Second, make sure you're hitting one of three areas Rowe says the print edition is going to focus:

1. Investigative/Watchdog Reporting
2. Storytelling (do a search for stories written by Tom Hallman)
3. Utility: direct action/volunteer opportunities, social capital ("make me sound smart") and guide/expertise (how-to, entertainment critics)

Finally, reporters are being asked to do more with less, so help them out.  Be transparent and have your PR person do some of the preliminary reporting.  Find third-party sources who can validate your message.  Let the reporter know who would disagree with your position and tell him/her why yours is better.  Give them access to any visuals (photos or videos) or audio that can facilitate the reporting and expand your message when the story posts on the web.

Read the NYT article.