The JOA fight is a remnant of the last Hearst Newspaper Executive Regime. Schwarz started his reign in January of 2009 with the closing announcement of the PI. Now we are in the midst of "100 days of Change at Hearst Newspapers!" It seems to consist of moving current execs around, and the PI.

Remember that Hearst has a lot of paper out there in terms of magazines and newspapers all are getting pricier to produce and harder to fill with ads. The company as a whole needs some new ideas and clean thinking.

Innovation has to be much easier in creative Seattle than in executive NY, but the JOA is the albatross around the neck of the company. Cut it free and Hearst may be the hottest thing out there.

Crosscut's Bill Richards has an archive of great material on the history of the JOA and Blethen attempts to destroy the PI. http://crosscut.com/account/billSPACEric…

This could be interesting!

One question that should be asked to Hearst is this:

The PI's internet-only employees are not unionized, the rest of their writers are. It seems the PI thinks that if you're not writing for hard copy, you don't need a union. If the PI goes online only, where do unionized staff fit in, if at all?