The Seattle Times

About The Seattle Times

The Seattle Times, one of two daily newspapers serving Seattle, Washington, United States, is the largest daily newspaper in the state of Washington. Since 1983, the Times and Seattle's other major paper, the Hearst-owned Seattle Post-Intelligencer have been run under a "Joint Operating Agreement" (JOA) whereby advertising, production, marketing, and circulation are run by the Times for both papers. They maintain separate news and editorial departments. The papers put out a combined Sunday edition, to which the P-I contributes only a few pages of editorial content.

The Seattle Times originated as the Seattle Press-Times, a four-page newspaper founded in 1891 with a daily circulation of 3,500, which Maine teacher and attorney Alden J. Blethen bought in 1896. Renamed the Seattle Daily Times, it doubled its circulation within half a year. By 1915, circulation stood at 70,000. As of September 2007, weekday circulation stood at 215,311.

The Times is one of the few remaining major city dailies in the United States independently operated and owned by a local family (the Blethens). The Seattle Times Company, while owning and operating the Times, also owns three other papers in Washington, as well as Blethen Maine Newspapers, which operate five newspapers based in Maine. The McClatchy Company owns 49.5 percent of voting common stock in the Seattle Times Company, formerly held by Knight Ridder.