The P-I's D. Parvaz will head to Harvard

Seattle Post-Intelligencer editorialist, pop culture writer, and columnist D. Parvaz has been named a Nieman Fellow and will head off to Harvard University for a year of studying, it was announced Friday, May 16. The Niemans are prestigious fellowships offered by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard.

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McClatchy would like to sell its 49.5 percent stake in the Seattle Times Co.

• Sacramento Bee

Another devaluation of the Seattle Times Co.

Last week was tough for the folks at the Seattle Times Co. The flagship Seattle Times carried through on a plan to cut the paper's staff of 1,845 by about 7 percent, or 125 employees. Meanwhile, in a federal securities filing last Friday, May 9, Sacramento-based McClatchy Co., which owns 49.5 percent of the Times Co. voting stock, disclosed it is continuing to devalue its stake in the company.

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Melinda Bargreen: Goodbye to the Seattle Times music critic post

• Seattle Times

Seattle Times "Zen Master" Michael Fancher retires

• Seattle Times

Electronic editions for schools helped The Seattle Times boost circulation

• Seattle Times

A union dispute could hamper the Seattle Times Co. sale of papers in Maine

• Editor and Publisher

Another mayoral spokesperson departs for the same nonprofit

Martin McOmber, senior communications and policy advisor for Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, will leave city employment on Wednesday, April 30, to join Casey Family Programs as communications director. McOmber will feel right at home at Casey, because the managing director of communications there, Marianne Bichsel, was herself spokesperson for the mayor before joining the foundation in Seattle last fall.

Alex Fryer, communications advisor at the Office of Sustainability and Environment, will fill in until the mayor names a new comm director — though the official City Hall announcement today sure makes it sound like the job is Fryer's to lose.

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Good news about Seattle Times and P-I circulations: They're both up

• Seattle Times

Can Conlin shape up the City Council?

Columnist Joni Balter of The Seattle Times has a good riff going in her attacks on Seattle City Council president Richard Conlin. She thinks Conlin is turning Seattle into "one giant kibbutz. Pesticide-free, of course." The latest to get her goat: Conlin's initiative to strengthen Seattle's food system, with all kinds of measures to promote healthy eating, healthy farmers, healthy attitudes.

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The Seattle P-I is one of the top 20 U.S. news sites

• Seattlest

The high legal cost of practicing journalism

The demise of newspapers is a very bad thing, and anyone who thinks the Internet will quickly step up to fill the void is delusional. It's hard, for example, to envision even an influential national blog mustering the resources to uncover what The New York Times reports today about retired generals who serve as expert commentators on TV:

Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration's wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found.

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Here's the Seattle Times list of staffers accepting buyouts

• Slog

Music critic Melinda Bargreen takes buyout at The Seattle Times

After 31 years as classical music critic at The Seattle Times, Melinda Bargreen has decided to take a buyout offer. She may return, after some months, as a freelance music critic, and says she'll continue to write book reviews at the paper. Bargreen has been a reliably enthusiastic critic, particularly of the Symphony, Opera, and Seattle Chamber Music Society performances. A pianist, she also provided extensive and informed coverage of concert pianists. She has many close friends in music, extending back to her days at the University of Washington School of Music. Here's the letter she sent around to friends and colleagues:

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Getting the spiritual scoop

Coverage of the Dalai Lama's visit suggests a way Seattle newspapers can get out of their funk: try boosting our spirit.

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Kudos to journalists and Cantwell, caution to Lama lovers and trolley lines

Crosscut readers no doubt by now are ready to cry "uncle" regarding our absorption with The Seattle Times' financial problems and the perilous state of our city's daily newspapers.

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Growing up without newspapers

Sixth of a series: The youngest member of the Crosscut editorial team weighs in.

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Times columnist Jerry Large: Good journalism costs money

• Seattle Times

Why the Sonics should go away

Brave is the mortal who takes on Art Thiel, the Post-Intelligencer's ace sports columnist. Advocates for a Legislative fix for Husky stadium still think Thiel's withering column about that request sank the idea in a day. (Thiel dislikes the commercialization of college sports and has become the scourge of Huskies.) And now, he's arguing to defy the Oklahoma Sonics group until the last lawsuit dies. "Just say no," contends Big Art.

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On ownership: Times Publisher Blethen vs. former Chron Editor Bronstein

• Editor and Publisher