Via artnet:
“Another month, another art critic shown the door by a major paper. This time it�s Regina Hackett, longtime correspondent for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. A representative of Hearst Newspapers swung by the paper�s office Friday, Jan. 9, 2009, to tell the staff that, ‘Journalism is a fabulous profession, but it is a business,’ and that the paper would be shut down in 60 days, either to close forever or reopen as a greatly reduced online-only service (the heartbreaking footage of the announcement is available here).”
“I’m like some demented duckling stuck on this island — stuck on the P-I — so if I am forced to do something brave and move on out there, it might be good for me, and I am being forced,’ Hackett told fellow Seattle critic Jen Graves, who writes for the Stranger.
Hackett indicated that she was working on a book about Pacific Northwest art and would continue writing an art blog. Her writing is currently hosted as “Art to Go” on the P-I�s website, and presently features her reflections on Mrs. Lonelyhearts, Nathaniel West�s Depression-era novel about a desperate newspaper columnist. ‘I mean, there are no jobs for us,’ Hackett told Graves.” Sheila Farr, art critic of the Seattle Times, was also laid off, too, but Jen said it’s no big loss.
