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Outlet profile

The Seattle Times

U.S. center-left

Owned byThe Blethen family, who have held majority control since 1896; fully family-owned since 2024, when the Blethens repurchased McClatchy's 49.5% minority stake. Ryan Blethen became publisher in January 2026 after his father Frank Blethen stepped down.
FundingSubscriptions and advertising (digital and print); some journalism units are partly philanthropically funded, such as the Education Lab (launched 2013)
On the administrationbroadly critical

Background

The paper traces its roots to 1891, when it was founded as the Seattle Press-Times. Alden J. Blethen took control in 1896 and built it into the largest daily in Washington State, establishing a multigenerational family publishing dynasty. A minority stake of 49.5% was sold to Knight Ridder in the mid-20th century to shore up finances; when McClatchy acquired Knight Ridder's assets in 2006, that stake passed to McClatchy. The Blethen family bought it back in 2024, making the paper fully family-controlled again. Frank Blethen, who led the company for roughly four decades and was a prominent voice for independent local journalism, stepped down at the end of 2025; his son Ryan Blethen became publisher in January 2026. Multiple media-bias trackers rate the paper center-left — Media Bias/Fact Check calls it Left-Center with high factual reliability, Ad Fontes Media rates it Lean Left, and AllSides rates it Center. The editorial board has drawn criticism from both sides over the years: the left faulted it for endorsing some Republican candidates and for a perceived rightward drift on business coverage under Frank Blethen, while conservatives have objected to its generally liberal editorial stance. Since January 2025, the editorial board has published pieces describing the Trump administration as overreaching constitutionally, criticizing cuts to federal science programs, and praising legal resistance to White House executive orders.

Sources

  1. Seattle Times - Bias and Credibility - Media Bias/Fact Check
  2. Seattle Times Bias and Reliability | Ad Fontes Media
  3. The Seattle Times Media Bias Rating | AllSides
  4. Five-generation family ownership fuels The Seattle Times | Editor and Publisher
  5. Seattle Times publisher and CEO Frank Blethen will step down in 2025 | The Seattle Times
  6. The Seattle Times Company - Wikipedia
  7. The Seattle Times - Wikipedia
  8. Seattle law firm refused to be bullied by Trump's orders - Seattle Times editorial
  9. Editorial — Seattle Times: Congress must put guardrails on Trump's vanity projects, spending
  10. Frank Blethen's Battle To Save The Seattle Times | Post Alley

Profile compiled 2026-07-27; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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