Our new "less is more" approach shifts focus to region's businesses

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."

— Anonymous

Here is another update on how we're doing at the Seattle Times lemonade stand. Call this chapter: "When less is more, at least for most readers." Before I explain that, and tell you about a change we'll be making in The Times this week, let me set the framework. I first quoted the lemonade platitude back in January 2005 in a column explaining cuts we had to make in content and staffing. Almost two years later, practically nothing has gotten better, here or elsewhere.

The newspaper industry is in trouble. How bad it is can be seen in this passage from The New York Times last week, quoting Janet L. Robinson, chief executive of its parent company:

"Ms. Robinson said that the Times Company and other newspaper companies 'have been dealing with a transformation unlike any we have seen in our lifetimes.' Readers and advertisers are migrating to the Internet, ad revenues are falling or remaining flat, circulation is declining and costs are rising."

That's pretty much the experience in Seattle. On the upside, readership and circulation at The Times have been better than the situation nationally. On the downside, we're still in costly litigation concerning the future of the joint operation between The Times and The Hearst Corp., owner of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Certainly, the challenge locally can be seen in the recent sale of the King County Journal Newspapers group. The seller, Peter Horvitz, said his company has lost money the past eight years. There is speculation the buyer, Black Press of Victoria, B.C., will close the Journal, the group's only daily newspaper.

Since early 2005, The Seattle Times has avoided dramatic cuts in staff or content. We forestalled one change that many metro newspapers have made, eliminating or sharply reducing daily stock tables. Among those who have moved in this direction are The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Atlanta Journal Constitution and The Boston Globe.

We will, too, beginning this week. The Times will eliminate stock and mutual fund A-to-Z lists Tuesday through Friday. Instead, on those days, the Business Section will carry a Money & Markets page, with Northwest stock prices and key summary market numbers from the day before for stocks, mutual funds and bonds. The A-to-Z listing will continue to appear on Saturday.

This change will be a hardship for some readers, but our research tells us that fewer and fewer of you rely on a printed newspaper to keep track of your investments. By dropping the tables, we save money on newsprint and we're able to provide information that most investors will find more helpful than the old listings and more local information that readers can't find elsewhere.

"We're eliminating content that is available elsewhere and giving our readers what they can't get everywhere else," said Becky Bisbee, Times business editor. "We kept the focus on Northwest stocks, with complete listings from Washington, Oregon and Idaho."

The new Money & Markets page will have larger type and more visual elements. Bisbee explained, "You can look at the page and quickly know which directions things are moving. You can see trends quickly. It's not just eye candy, it's informative eye candy."

Other improvements include:

• More information about Northwest companies, including visual elements that show where a stock price is relative to its 52-week high and low, and which direction the stock price is headed on a weekly, monthly and quarterly basis.

• New information about corporate bond indexes and government Treasury prices.

• A new daily feature that highlights a market trend or economic issue, along with a story that wraps up the previous day's trading.

Also, seattletimes.com is upgrading its stock and market usability. Readers can track their portfolios on the site. The site will continue to offer "After the Bell," a terrific e-mail news alert that goes out after the markets close.

We held off dropping the print listings because we wanted to take advantage of improvements that were being developed by our service provider, The Associated Press. The Times is among the first papers in the country to offer the new Money & Markets features.

This year the Society of American Business Editors and Writers gave The Times' Business section one of four "Best in Business" awards in our circulation category. We want to uphold that standing. Saving money by cutting news space for market tables enables us to avoid other cuts that would damage the quality of our local business coverage.

Let us know how we're doing by calling us at 206-464-8552 or e-mailing stocksandfunds@seattletimes.com

Inside The Times appears in the Sunday Seattle Times. If you have a comment on news coverage, write to Michael R. Fancher, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111, call 206-464-3310 or send e-mail to seattletimes.com">mfancher@seattletimes.com. More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists