P-I to stop printing

Tomorrow will be the last printed edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which will become a Web-only publication (with a staff of only about 20, compared with the current 165). From the NYT:

The site described by executives might compete less directly with the P-I’s traditional rival, The Seattle Times, than with another local news and commentary site, Crosscut. Hearst hopes to capitalize on the healthy Web traffic The P-I already has, about 1.8 million unique visitors a month, according to Nielsen Online. It usually outranks the online readership of its traditional rival, The Seattle Times, despite having much smaller print circulation, 118,000 on weekdays last year, compared with 199,000 for The Times. The P-I lost $14 million last year, according to Hearst, and its transition to an all-digital product will be closely watched in an industry that is fast losing revenue, is casting around for a new economic model and still relies on print for about 90 percent of its revenue. The company recently instructed all of its newspapers to look for ways to charge for digital content — on mobile devices, if not online.