When the P-I launched its online only edition (actually, even before), they did something radical, at least for an established newspaper web site: They linked to content produced by other local news organizations. Since then, they’ve even begun linking to stories at their longtime rival, the Seattle Times.
Ever since the P-I started doing this, I thought the Seattle Times should do the same. But I also assumed, from conversations with several Times people, that they were way too stodgy to ever link to a P-I story. But I was wrong—someone at seattlepi.com just directed me to the Times’ web page—where, sure enough, they are linking to a P-I story (there it is, three down on the left column):
I think it is a smart respone to the threat posed by Hearst’s efforts to create an online-only news portal for Seattle-area news (which is the animating idea behind the P-I’s site).
Welcome, Seattle Times, to the brave new world of internet journalism. There is hope for Dave Boardman yet. That wasn’t so hard now, was it, Dave?
