Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen had a rough day testifying before a Senate hearing on media consolidation last week, but you wouldn’t have known it reading the Seattle Times. Of course, the good folks at the rival Seattle Post-Intelligencer were only too happy to run a story that, unlike the Times, recounted Blethen’s sharp exchange with New Hampshire Republican Senator John Sununu and pointed out the apparent inconsistency of Blethen’s comments.
Here’s what happened: Appearing before the Senate Commerce Committee, Blethen said that the proposed relaxation of rules limiting the size of media conglomerates “would see the beginning of the end of our democracy.” Sununu pounced, asking Blethen whether, given the fact that the Blethen family controls six newspapers in two states, Blethen himself was not “a threat to democracy.” Blethen said no. Sununu asked if the man next to Blethen, William Dean Singleton, the head of MediaNews Group, which owns 50 dailies and 121 other papers, was a threat to democracy. Blethen said yes. Sununu called Blethen’s position “outrageous.” The next day Singleton told the Washington Post that Blethen is “the village idiot of the newspaper industry.”
The Times, however, ran a very different story, stressing the opposition of some senators to media consolidation– neglecting to mention Sununu’s back-and-forth with Blethen.
Were Times editors deliberately covering for their boss’ less than successful appearance in D.C., as P-I staffers allege? Times‘ soon-to-depart managing editor Alex MacLeod said he was unfamiliar with issue, referring questions to business editor Becky Bisbee. Bisbee declined comment. MacLeod’s replacement-in-waiting David Boardman did not immediately return a call.
