Video: Reactions to the Post-Intelligencer announcement

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SEATTLE - KING 5 News has learned that Seattle may soon become a one-newspaper town.

Like many newspapers across America, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has been struggling to survive.

Now, a source close to the deal tells KING 5 that the paper's owner, Hearst Corporation, will announce as soon as Friday that it's putting the P-I up for sale. Under the joint operating agreement between the P-I and The Seattle Times, the P-I must be offered for sale for at least 30 days before it can cease operation.

Editor's morning update: According to the P-I, the papers publisher "hinted early Friday he would shed some light about a Thursday TV report that the paper would be put up for sale. Contacted at home, editor and publisher Roger Oglesby said, 'There's nothing I can tell you now. I will call you later today.'"

The joint operating agreement was formed in 1983 in an effort to keep both papers healthy. The P-I was granted a monopoly on morning publication. At that time The Seattle Times was one of the only profitable afternoon papers in the country.

But in 1999 the joint operating agreement was modified to allow the Times to begin publishing in the morning. Critics predicted that would eventually lead to the demise of the P-I.

We're told Hearst does not expect another buyer to step forward and that Seattle will likely become a one-newspaper town within the next few months.

A call to the Seattle P-I publisher's office for comment has not yet been returned.

Thursday night, there was a certain level of shock and even greater disbelief spreading through the newsroom at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

"What I'm trying to figure out is: What does this all mean? Is there a bigger deal here that we don't know about?" wondered David Horsey, syndicated cartoonist.

"I haven't spoken to anybody. It's after close of business in New York. I'm sure I'll know more tomorrow. But I don't know very much tonight, I'm afraid,"said David McCumber, Managing Editor.

Even McCumber says it was news to him. He told his newsroom, which has a staff of 200, he has his doubts about the story. But the Hearst Corporation is notoriously private in its business dealings.

"I am due to have a lengthy phone conversation tomorrow with a bishop. This will be the first interview with a subject that I will ask to pray for me in the end," said political columnist Joel Connelly who has been with the paper for 33 years.

One Seattle Times reporter says their newsroom wasn't sure how to react. On its Web site, the Times reports its own publisher, Frank Blethen, blurted out the words: "I'm stunned!"

It would be the end of an era - the P-I put out its first edition in 1863 and was the city's first newspaper.

It's unclear how this will affect The Seattle Times or the Blethen family, which owns 51 percent of that paper.