Phyllis Campbell | Chairman, Pacific Northwest, JPMorgan Chase

“I do find The Seattle Times sportswriters quite extraordinary — the way they keep me informed on what’s going on with the national sports scene.

With my business background, I’m always looking at the business news, so Drew DeSilver is a favorite. I find that for core business stories, he does a very good job of being thorough. Particularly in banking. But in other business stories, as well, he’s a good reporter who does a great job.

That’s the thing I always like about the reporting in The Seattle Times. It’s grounded in facts, but it’s written with an eye toward having a little personal interest.”

Sherman Alexie | Writer

“First of all, local sports coverage is huge. Local high schools and small colleges; nobody’s going to give you that kind of coverage. So there’s nothing better for local sports coverage than the local newspaper.

Coinciding with that is local government coverage. Nobody sends a reporter strictly into city hall to cover news like a local newspaper will. And nobody has those kinds of relationships — reporters having long-term relationships with government officials — that don’t exist anywhere else. So it’s local newspapers that do that.”

Sam Smith | President Emeritus, Washington State University

“The Seattle Times is part of the community. What I look for in a paper — and it’s what I see here — is a paper that is part of the community, that is going to tell me what’s going on in the community having digested and thought it through. I’m not particularly interested in a news flap, “We think this happened Monday.” I want to know what is going on, I want to know there is a watchdog there, I want to know someone thought things through. If there’s an article, I want to know the person who’s written the article. If I know the person, then I also have a pretty good idea of how well thought out it is. But I want to know about what is going on in the community, and The Seattle Times is part of the community.

When I read the newspaper, I want to know it’s written by people who know some of the background, some of the history on it.

You know that if you’re going to do something, someone from The Seattle Times is going to get to the bottom of it. And that’s good. It also means you better behave, too.”

Alison Carl White | Executive Director, NPower Seattle

“I occasionally use CNN.com and the Huffington Post. I would say I’m a not a real New York Times reader despite feeling pressure that I should be. I feel like I get what I need from The Seattle Times.

I could read some right-leaning or left-leaning blog, but I find myself not trusting what that actually means because I know there’s an agenda. When I look at The Seattle Times, I feel that there’s no agenda there.”

Brad Smith | Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Microsoft

“It’s so important to stay in touch with what’s happening in our own community, and there is no substitute for the local newspaper for doing that. Part of it comes down to having a first-rate group of journalists in the newsroom and people who are able on the editorial page to devote real thought and length to what they are addressing. In contrast to TV or radio, you just get more content and more column inches, as it turns out, from the local newspaper.

I think in an era of technological change, people are quick to focus on the way technology is changing the reporting of the news or the form in which it’s consumed — even to some degree the business model that underlies media organizations. But even amidst so much change, we shouldn’t lose sight of the critical continuity and importance that comes with high-quality, objective, local journalistic reporting. It has been part of this country since the country was founded and it’s just impossible to imagine a healthy community without it.”

Elena Borodina | Circus Performer, Teatro ZinZanni

“During major disasters, I turn on CNN. But the newspaper gives me a deeper, more thoughtful analysis of the news.”