Seattle Times

The Seattle Times, established in 1891, is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington. Owned and run, over four generations by the Blethen famoily since 1986, it stands as the largest circulating newspaper in the Pacific Northwest region.

Originally founded as the Seattle Press-Times in 1891, it was purchased by Alden J. Blethen in 1896 and later renamed The Seattle Daily Times. In 1966, it adopted its current name, The Seattle Times. The owner of the paper, The Seattle Times Company, is jointly owned by the Blethen family and the McClatchy Company.

From 1983 to 2009, The Times and the Hearst-owned *Seattle Post-Intelligencer operated under a Joint Operating Agreement (JOA), which was terminated in 2009 when The Post-Intelligencer ceased publication. The termination followed legal proceedings initiated by Hearst, with The Times ultimately winning on appeal in 2005.

The Seattle Times Company not only owns and operates its flagship newspaper but also manages two other dailies in Washington state: The Yakima Herald-Republic (acquired in 1991) and the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin (purchased from the Kelly family in 1971). Additionally, it oversees The Issaquah Press Inc., along with associated papers like The Issaquah Press, Newcastle News, Sammamish Review, and SnoValley Star. Previously, it held ownership of several newspapers in Maine under the subsidiary Blethen Maine Newspapers.

The Seattle Times won 11 Pulitzer Prizes, with its most recent recognition in 2020 for National Reporting, highlighting design flaws in Boeing’s 737 Max.