Washington Post Grasps for New Direction as Trump-Era Boom Fades

[Mr. X]

WSJ News Exclusive | Washington Post Grasps for New Direction as Trump-Era Boom Fades

 

[dixiehack]

Maybe Bezos takes on The Athletic as another loss leader but also a way to broaden the WaPo’s appeal beyond political junkies. This is in-depth business analysis from me and in no way a pitch to cut me a break on bundling subscriptions from two different sites I already pay for, honest.

 

[wicked]

The Washington Post still has 2.7 million subscribers. I'm paying $150/year. I'm sure a bunch are paying more. So they're bringing in probably north of $400 million in subscription revenue. That's before factoring in advertising, paid events, other sources of revenue. No need to hold a GoFundMe yet.

 

[Alma]

My objective (I think) view:

I like some of the Washington Post beat writers. And it does sports better.

But the Times, however imperfectly, tells me more about America. Art, food, culture, it has better more provocative regular and guest opinion writers. And the Web site looks better.

 

[Readallover]

As many of us predicted, NYT lost some of the Trump haters. Next will be cancellation of Samantha Bee's tv show.

 

[tapintoamerica]

My objective (I think) view:

I like some of the Washington Post beat writers. And it does sports better.

But the Times, however imperfectly, tells me more about America. Art, food, culture, it has better more provocative regular and guest opinion writers. And the Web site looks better.

Also: the Times has a much better mobile app.

 

[HanSenSE]

Not sure if I like the whole premise of this thread. Like Trump and only Trump has driven newsgathering the last 5-6 years?

 

[Azrael]

The Post is a much better local paper for DC than the Times is a local paper for NYC.

 

[tapintoamerica]

Not sure if I like the whole premise of this thread. Like Trump and only Trump has driven newsgathering the last 5-6 years?

The purpose of this story was for Trumpists -- led by Murdoch -- to get an erection lasting more than four hours.

 

[The Big Ragu]

Not sure if I like the whole premise of this thread. Like Trump and only Trump has driven newsgathering the last 5-6 years?

Subscriptions to the WaPo and NYT tripled between 2016 and 2021. Yeah, it was pretty much Trump and only Trump. Those two outlets were doing investigative journalism with regard to him that attracted a lot of readers. Trump and his dishonesty was the golden goose.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Subscriptions to the WaPo and NYT tripled between 2016 and 2021. Yeah, it was pretty much Trump and only Trump. Those two outlets were doing investigative journalism with regard to him that attracted a lot of readers. Trump and his dishonesty was the golden goose.

What, he's no longer a grifter? This is the gift that keeps on giving.

 

[wicked]

The Boston Globe’s (alleged) subscription numbers would counter that. They say they’re at like 225k for online now. They have gained maybe 10 percent YOY.

 

[Sports Barf]

Pretty telling how willing the Post was willing to cooperate with WSJ on this story. It’s almost as if they’re looking for investors who see an opportunity…

 

[LanceyHoward]

The Post is a much better local paper for DC than the Times is a local paper for NYC.

I agree with that. But that is to some extent damning with faint praise. As a child of the suburbs I always look at how much coverage a paper covers the large suburban counties of the metro area. The Post expends very little effort in covering suburban school bond issues. etc in the Washngton Metro area. The Post has poured most of the additional resources Bezos has provided into their national staff.

From what I have seen of the Boston Globe they still perceive themselves as a local/regional paper. The Globe will spend a lot more time and money on stories about state troopers abusing overtime than the Post will.

 

[swingline]

The Post is a much better local paper for DC than the Times is a local paper for NYC.

Isn’t that the point of the NYT, to be the country’s paper of record, not necessarily the city’s?

But it still has plenty of NYC-centric stories every time I log on.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

I agree with that. But that is to some extent damning with faint praise. As a child of the suburbs I always look at how much coverage a paper covers the large suburban counties of the metro area. The Post expends very little effort in covering suburban school bond issues. etc in the Washngton Metro area. The Post has poured most of the additional resources Bezos has provided into their national staff.

From what I have seen of the Boston Globe they still perceive themselves as a local/regional paper. The Globe will spend a lot more time and money on stories about state troopers abusing overtime than the Post will.

Has been a long time since I've read the Globe daily, but this was certainly the case 10-15 years ago.

The Times is as much a New York paper as I am a Los Angeles resident. But as has been noted, to some extent, that's it's Brand (trademark pending).

 

[wicked]

If you want to know what’s happening in the Bx or Bklyn, pick up one of the tabs.

 

[LanceyHoward]

Isn’t that the point of the NYT, to be the country’s paper of record, not necessarily the city’s?

But it still has plenty of NYC-centric stories every time I log on.

After Watergate the Graham's made a decision to make the Post a great local paper rather than a national paper. The New York Times also made a conscious decision to be a national paper rather than a local one.

I think I remember reading an article where Warren Buffett, who was long a major Washington Post shareholder and was very close to Kay Graham, explained it in terms of supermarket ads. The Post had very high market penetration in the D.C. area and received a lot of advertising money from retailers like grocers and also from classified. Given the affluence of the Washington area the Post had a gold mine locally if they retained their local subscription base. Since Bezos took over the Post has moved to a larger emphasis on national news but they do retain some of their local coverage.

While the Times did get ads from upscale department stores it did not sell pages and pages of ads to car dealers, grocery stores or from classifieds. That was because it never had the local circulation that a paper like the Daily News. Instead it had a a niche audience of affluent readers, even locally, who were indifferent to whatever happened in Brooklyn or the Bronx. The Times correctly determined that they were best suited to chase advertisers interested in reaching this demographic. As an example the Times beefing up their travel section was a successful attempt to attract advertisers interested in hitting this segment.

 

[britwrit]

While the Times did get ads from upscale department stores it did not sell pages and pages of ads to car dealers, grocery stores or from classifieds.

I don't know about you but I got my job through the New York Times.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

If you want to know what’s happening in the Bx or Bklyn, pick up one of the tabs.

This used to be particularly true a couple decades ago, back when newspapers had, you know, pages, and stuff. The Daily News used to have a thick, thick Queens section...and I imagine Bronx and Brooklyn sections closer to and in those boroughs. The News, of course, is considerably leaner these days. Even by today's standards, the Post still does a pretty good job of making the local news mix seamlessly with the national stuff.