Publisher and CEO, The Seattle Times
Frank Blethen is publisher of the Seattle Times/seattletimes.com, the second largest newspaper/website on the West Coast.
The Times is known for its strong local coverage and its aggressive investigative reporting. The Times has won eight Pulitzer Prizes and has been a Pulitzer finalist 15 other times since 1990. The Times was just awarded the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting.
The Seattle Times is one of America’s last independent and locally owned newspapers. It is a values-based journalism/community service family business in its 115th year of Blethen family stewardship.
Frank is a member of the fourth family generation. Currently, there are nine members of the family’s fourth and fifth generations active in the journalism company’s management and governance.
He is a strong advocate for independent journalism, family-owned businesses and a longtime active participant in the national grass-roots movement in opposition to newspaper and media ownership consolidation. In 2011, in recognition of Frank’s leadership on behalf of quality journalism, he was the first publisher to be awarded the American Society of News Editors’ News Leadership Award.
Frank has frequently received significant recognition for his leadership on diversity, inclusion and gender equity, including in 2011 receiving the Asian American Journalists Association’s Special Recognition Award and the Northwest Journalists of Color Diversity Award.
The Blethen family and the Seattle Times are known as advocates for diversity, education and community service. They also own the Yakima Herald-Republic, the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin and several Seattle-area weeklies, including the Issaquah Press.