Seattle Times, Hearst agree to arbitration

SEATTLE — The Seattle Times Co. and the owner of its rival, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, have agreed to let an arbitrator settle a protracted legal dispute over their joint-operating agreement.

In a statement Thursday, The Times and Hearst Corp. said they have agreed to forgo their right to further appeals, meaning the arbitrator’s decision would be binding if a judge allows arbitration.

“Quicker resolution is by far the best option for the newspapers and for the employees of both The Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer,” Frank Blethen, publisher of The Seattle Times, said in the statement.

P-I Editor and Publisher Roger Oglesby agreed binding arbitration was the best option.

“This brings a measure of certainty to a situation that has generated a lot of confusion and anxiety for newspaper employees and readers for some time.”

The Times has been trying to dissolve the joint-operating agreement with the P-I since April 2003, and has sought to invoke a clause in the contract that allows either paper to end the agreement if it suffers three consecutive years of losses.

Under the 1983 agreement, The Times handles circulation, printing and advertising for both newspapers in exchange for 60 percent of their joint profits.

A call to the committee was not immediately returned Thursday.

What binding arbitration means for the future of competing dailies in Seattle wasn’t immediately clear. In theory, a quick resolution of The Times’ loss claims could speed the dissolution of the joint-operating agreement and perhaps the closure of the P-I, which has no printing presses, advertising staff or circulation system of its own.

The Times, owned by the Blethen family and Knight Ridder, originally claimed it lost money in 2000, 2001 and 2002, thus triggering an 18-month period during which The Times and the P-I could negotiate an end to the agreement.

Hearst sued, arguing that The Times shouldn’t be allowed to count the losses caused by extraordinary events, such as the 49-day strike against both dailies in late 2000.