Opinion: Stop Paying for the Seattle Times!

It’s Time For School Employees to Stop Paying for a Print Subscription to the Seattle Times 

Opinion by Chris Tracy, Kenmore JH Librarian

For a long time, I’ve looked for reasons to continue to subscribe to the print edition of the Seattle Times. You see, I grew up with the Seattle Times. As a kid growing up in South Seattle, my parents subscribed to the Times and I remember diligently checking the Seattle Rainier baseball box scores, and checked the box scores for major league teams, too, and I read all about unlimited hydroplanes and their races. As I grew older I read the news, the Business Section and combed through the classified ads. In college, I took a break from studying and working each Sunday morning to read the Times in bed. As an adult I subscribed to the Seattle P-I and King County Journal and bought the Times each day. When the P-I ceased publication I subscribed to the Times.

I’ve always respected the right of the Editorial Page to voice their views; sometimes I agreed with their viewpoints, but the past several years have tended more and more to disagree with their slants. The last couple of years they have attacked my teacher pension, my health benefits, they promoted Charter Schools, promoted a teacher evaluation plan that was more punitive than supportive of teachers and more. I’ve seen them support (or not support) candidates for reasons that seem more personal, than based upon facts. I’ve read news articles that are supposed to assess the validity of arguments politicians are making, only to see much is left out. I’ve watched the paper get smaller in size, scope and sections. But I’ve stuck with the Times as a subscriber, until this week.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was when the Seattle Times decided to give huge amounts of free advertising to one candidate for Governor and one initiative, using some wild double-talk to justify their actions. That’s it. I cancelled my subscription and encourage others in public education to consider the same action. Read the Times online for free, but don’t give the Seattle Times your money.

I’ll miss a hard-copy newspaper. I have already emailed the publisher of the Everett Herald and asked them to consider expanding their home delivery to North King County. I’d suggest those living in Southern King County contact the Tacoma News Tribune and request they expand coverage northward, as well.

As Always,
Christopher Tracy
Kenmore, WA
(Tracy is a longtime teacher and past recipient of the Washington Library Media Association’s Teacher-Librarian of the Year Award.)