In today's journalism world of shrinking newsroom budgets and even smaller staffs it is no surprise the The Seattle Times turned to AP articles for the majority of their coverage of President Obama's second inauguration. As was pointed out in the previous post, the Times is an excellent REGIONAL newspaper. They have neither the budget nor the ability to compete with the national news sources for coverage of a story like the inauguration of the president.

That doesn't necessarily mean that the coverage found on the website was bad. In fact, The Times did a very good job of picking things of the AP wire to satisfy the need of those turning to The Times for coverage over CNN or the Washington Post. In fact, with the exception of video the Times had everything a POTUS–watching 24–hour–news–cycle–junkie might ever want.

Let it not be said that because they used so many AP stories The Times didn't have any of its own coverage of the inauguration. On the contrary, there were a few articles that were able to connect the big event in Washington to the local Seattle community. One such article, written by Janet I. Tu, focused on the importance of having the first African American President inaugurated for a second time on the day honoring a man who did so much for the advancement of racial equality in the United States.

This kind of national news really isn't in the wheelhouse of a newspaper like The Times. While they do provide some national coverage, there is better national coverage from organizations that carve out their niche with national news. The Times is far more adept at covering the stories that are important primarily to the local Seattle community, and The Times should focus on these stories because they will be able to sustain a higher readership that way.

That being said, I was very pleased with how I was able to follow the inauguration from The Times website. The AP articles blended well with the local coverage of the event and MLK day. It was updated early and often, which is about all you can ask from what The Times was doing. I would call it a successful day for The Seattle Times.

Ah yes, another semester in journalism class with Prof. Herbert Lowe. Of course, this means another new section for my blog and another newspaper beat assignment to write about. After The Star Tribune and NBC News we have The Seattle Times, a great paper from the emerald city in the Pacific Northwest.

One thing I've noticed after examining a lot of news sites for journalism classes is that a lot of these sites are designed in a similar fashion, though no two are exactly the same. For example, the headline section of The Seattle Times is similar to Boston.com, very clean with all the sections laid out in order of popularity directly under the masthead. And the front page and top stories is reminiscent of the Strib. All the top stories are listed next to a large photo that links to the lead story. Under that lies the top stories from each section organized in individual boxes. This is all very clean and simple. There is nothing truly innovative about it, but it is easy to use and quick to navigate.

The real strength of The Seattle Times lie in content. The Times produces content aimed primarily at a local audience. They are not, and will never be a New York Times or a Washington Post or  Wall Street Journal, which means they don't have the national draw and attention those newspapers have. This does afford them the distinct advantage of having a niche market, which leads to a more devoted readership.

The coverage of local business and the local economy seems to really stand out for the Times. Though this is my interpretation after limited experience with the paper and there may just happen to be several important stories in that area right now, the Times seems to excel in their business and economic coverage.The sports section of the Times is impressive as well. It should also be noted that the Times has had recent success in investigative pieces, including one on the crystal meth industry in the Pacific Northwest which won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting in 2012.

Overall The Seattle Times appears to be a strong news source fr those in the region. However, because it features a primarily local ad regional focus it does not have much draw for those outside the greater Seattle area.