31. Hearst Shuts Down a Seattle Paper Post-Intelligencer photo editor John Dickson, right, hugs Assistant Managing Editor Chris Beringer after the paper's closing was announced. Hearst Corp. is abandoning the print edition of its Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper and rolling the dice on a bold experiment: overhauling a big-city daily to a winnowed, online-only operation. The 146-year-old P-I is the first major newspaper to flee print for the Web, and publishers are watching the revamp closely as they explore tactics to steady their beleaguered businesses. A handful of smaller papers, including the Christian Science Monitor and the Kentucky Post, are making similar moves, but none approaches the size or scope of the 118,000-circulation P-I. For Hearst, the online-only P-I provides a laboratory to test new ideas for its 16-paper chain, which includes the Houston Chronicle and the San Francisco Chronicle. Hearst will be quick to pull the plug if the online P-I falters, according to people familiar with the company's thinking.