I've always wanted to review a Newspaper. I mean they have so much to say about everything, and apart from the Letters to the Editor that nobody reads, when do we get our say? In Seattle, we... More

I've always wanted to review a Newspaper. I mean they have so much to say about everything, and apart from the Letters to the Editor that nobody reads, when do we get our say? In Seattle, we have two daily newspapers: The Seattle Times and the Seattle Post Intelligencer (PI). If you're looking for a good blend of local news and national/international news, the Times is a good fit. The PI focuses mainly just on local news with a mild attempt at news beyond Seattle. I give the Seattle Times 4 stars for a newspaper. It's no 5 stars (New York Times, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post), and it's no 2 stars (Portland Oregonian). The Times is a family owned long-time Seattle newspaper that really does a good job of bringing Seattle together around its local issues, and how it fits into the rest of the world. The Times' strengths are its depth of local community interest and up-to-date action stories, plus they cover national & international news with their own beats, and really work to get the right international stories in the blend. In addition, their weekly Weekend datebook section is great for planning family activities and seeing what's happening with music, art, and the performing arts. The weakest part of the Seattle Times is its Business Section, which most days of the week seems to be at least 60% Microsoft & Boeing coverage. You do get the feeling sometimes that the Redmond giant has a direct line into the business editors desk. They really need to diversify there. In addition, in the front & local sections, their Seattle political coverage is a little on the weak side--they don't expose the fun insides of Seattle politics too much. The Times editorial staff seems to always be open to changing the format, layout, and focus of its sections and writer's beats. I actually read the Managing Editor's article every week to get a sense of the many new things they're doing. In addition, the paper does really good in-depth local investigative reporting that often ends up in government stepping up to solve the problem highlighted! If you're going to subscribe to a daily newspaper in town, I recommend the Times. If you do want, however, the top tier of world and business stories, you'll have to subscribe as well to one of the 5 star papers I mention above. I enjoy reading the Times every day.
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