UPDATE: Here is the link where you can add your voice to the protest over the Times' decision to help Republican Rob McKenna win the governor's race.....
The now online-only daily Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported on Thursday:
The Seattle Times will boost Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna with $75,750 worth of ads on its own pages, paid for by the newspaper, according to a filing made by the Times with the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission.
The ads will be to “support” McKenna, who is running against Democrat Jay Inslee in the state’s marquee election race....
The Times long ago endorsed McKenna, as it usually does with Republican candidates for governor, but announced Monday it will run ads for McKenna “to demonstrate the power of newspaper advertising for political campaigns.”
We used to subscribe to both the Times and the Post-Intelligencer, and benefited from the range of views represented. I worried about what would happen when the PI shut down its print operation in 2009, and Seattle became a one-newspaper town. Well, now we know. I feel terrible for the many Times staffers - some of whom I know personally - who are vigorously protesting this ill-advised move, but the only thing the owner Frank Blethen seems to respond to is his own bottom line, so with a heavy heart, last night I cancelled our family's decades-long subscription to the Times.
Are there any other reputable papers in the U.S. resorting to these kinds of shenanigans?