 |
 |
| |
|
|
|
 Newsroom Carnage Continues at The Washington PostPosted on May 16, 2008
This just in: The Washington Post is the latest major newspaper to undergo the apparently inevitable newsroom downsizing process, clearing out 100 more journalists with a “blunt instrument,” as former Post (and former New York Times) writer Sharon Waxman reports in her WaxWord blog. “The Washington Post as I know it has jumped the shark,” Waxman laments.
TAGS:
|
|
The Age of Paine
Email
Print
Share
BlinkList
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Fark
Furl
Google
LinkedIn
Mixx
MySpace
NewsVine
NewsTrust
Propeller
Reddit
SphereIt
StumbleUpon
Technorati
TwitThis
YahooMyWeb
YahooBuzz
Jump to Comments
By Bill Jones, May 18, 2008 at 12:30 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
“we are eviscerating the heart of the institutions that act as our watchdogs to power.” What a joke, The Post and the other corporate media whores are a major enabler of the neo-fascists who are looting America and much of the rest of the world.
Report thisBy Watchdog, May 17, 2008 at 5:06 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
More like lapdogs. If they had truly acted as watchdogs we might not be in this situation now.
Report thisBy kath cantarella, May 17, 2008 at 8:39 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
turning in her grave.
Report thisBy Bukko in Australia, May 17, 2008 at 12:41 am #
I came back to America in March for my dad’s funeral service at Arlington national Cemetery, and picked up some dead-tree editions of the Post. (I read it regularly online from Down Under, mainly for Dan Froomkin, the last honest political reporter at the paper.) I was shocked to find how few advertisements were in the paper. Many pages were empty of paid adverts, and the ones that were averaged about 33% ads.
That might sound good to readers, but speaking as someone who used to be a newspaper reporter, I know that unless your paper has at least 50% of the pages filled with ads, you won’t be making money. And papers that don’t make money fire their reporters. That’s what’s happening to the Post. It becomes a self-reinforcing downward spiral. Fewer ads, fewer reporters, lower quality product, fewer readers, fewer businesses that want to advertise…
I’m old enough to remember the Washington Star, D.C.‘s former evening paper, which collapsed just as I graduated from college. Will the Post go that way? It’s gone a long way down the crapper from the ass-kicking institution it was during the days of Watergate. If it does diw, that will be too bad, but at least the blogosphere is there to reflect reality instead of government/corporate fascist propaganda.
Report thisBy weather, May 16, 2008 at 10:22 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
now there’s some out of the box thinking.
When the Washington Post brings down Silverstein/Bushcon and the rat’s nest that obliged their crimes like they once brought down Nixon, they’ll matter again - but this waste of wood is best left ignored, how fitting.
When a newspaper lies to itself, its marginalizes itself.
Report thisBy PatrickHenry, May 16, 2008 at 6:52 pm #
I wonder about the ethnic and religious makeup of the remaining writers, editors and columnists.
Report thisBy John, May 16, 2008 at 6:16 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Enter capitalism….
Report thisBy felicity smith, May 16, 2008 at 6:04 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
If a plethora of ‘stuff’ determines happiness, Americans must be euphoric. When we had a dearth of ‘stuff’ - ‘30’s and ‘40’s - we had a morning and an evening paper delivered, mail was delivered twice a day, libraries were open seven days a week, city, county, state and national parks were admission free, museums and zoos were free, all Calif. roads were free (and beautifully built and maintained)...and we were not unhappy, not to mention that we had plenty of time to read the papers.
Who decided, or did anybody decide that the pursuit of happiness was realized by the pursuit and amassing of stuff. Whoever they were, they were wrong. It’s about time to clean out the sheds and public lockers and closets and basements and attics and garages…and sit down and read the paper.
Report thisBy Thomas Billis, May 16, 2008 at 5:44 pm #
Good riddance to bad rubbish.Once upon a time the Washington Post and New York Times were great newspapers now I hope they do not give my birds diarrhea.Lining birdcages and wrapping fish are all they are good for.If their disgusting reporting in the run up to war was not enough to convince any sane person that the above is true good luck with your crayons in the restaurant.
Report thisBy conservative Yankee, May 16, 2008 at 4:43 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Once I read four newspapers a day.
The Manchester (New Hampshire) Union Leader
The Boston Globe
The St. Louis Post Dispatch, and the
San Francisco Examiner
The Examiner is gone, The Globe has been purchased by the Times. The Union Leader has turned to pablum, and the Post Dispatch well it’s still a pretty good paper.
All these papers had different stories. all had different writers, all served different groups. Now the Globe and the Times are the same paper, the pictures, stories, and opinions are “syndicated” (another word for homogenized. )
It’s way too late to save most of the papers… and thaat’s too bad!
Report this