KING-TV in Seattle is reporting (text) (video) that Hearst Corp. is putting the struggling Seattle Post-Intelligencer up for sale, the first step toward closing the newspaper and leaving that city a one-newspaper town. The TV station attributed its information to a source “close to the deal” and said an announcement could come as soon as today (Friday). The story said the PI’s joint operating agreement with the Times requires it to put the paper up for sale. If no buyer emerges in 30 days, Hearst can close the paper, which it apparently intends to do. KING said neither Hearst nor the paper’s publisher were available to comment. The Seattle Times quoted the PI’s managing editor, David McCumber, as saying he knew of no such plans. Hearst, of course, owns the San Francisco Chronicle, a paper that was losing $1 million a week from 2000 to 2006, and is still believed to be operating in the red.