Group: community effort needed to save Seattle P-I

A group devoted to keeping two daily newspapers in Seattle is pushing a community effort to buy the Seattle Post-Intelligencer from Hearst Corp.

The Committee for a Two-Newspaper Town says it might be the best hope for keeping the P-I alive. In a letter to the group Wednesday, Hearst said it's made no decision about whether to close the P-I completely or operate it as a news Web site with a greatly reduced staff.

Seattle attorney Anne Bremner, co-chairwoman of the Committee for a Two-Newspaper Town, said time is running out for the community to be prepared for whatever Hearst decides. The group is urging elected officials, as well as business, labor, environmental and neighborhood leaders to help respond to the closure threat.

In the meantime The Seattle Times is having troubles of its own. In a memo Wednesday, the company said it's in "survival mode," and is asking each employee group to help the newspaper save the equivalent of 12 percent of pay and benefits.