Womp Womp: Washington Post Will Lose Money This Year After Shedding Subscribers

Democracy Dies In Debt.

Katie Robertson @katie_robertson

SCOOP: The Washington Post is on track to lose money this year, sources say. It been unable to boost subscribers back to the 3 million it had in 2020 -- and CEO Fred Ryan has floated cutting 100 newsroom positions. Story here from me and
@BenMullin

Cutting 100 newsroom positions? That's turrible.

Via Mike from Twitchy, who quotes the NYT:

In the years after Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post in 2013, business boomed. Droves of readers bought digital subscriptions, and the newsroom roughly doubled in size, adding hundreds more journalists.

But The Post's business has stalled in the past year. As the breakneck news pace of the Trump administration faded away, readers have turned elsewhere, and the paper's push to expand beyond Beltway coverage hasn't compensated for the loss.

The organization is on track to lose money in 2022, after years of profitability, according to two people with knowledge of the company's finances.

More reactions at the link.

Via John Sexton, the New York Times' sources are trying to get one guy fired.

And that guy is, coincidentally enough, the guy who wants to get rid of low-performing employees, and make employees return to work at the actual workplace.

The downturn at The Post has set off frustration internally. Some top executives are concerned that Mr. Ryan, picked by Mr. Bezos to be the publication's top business executive, hasn't moved decisively enough to expand coverage. Some have also become irritated by the company's halting marketing efforts, which are guided by Mr. Ryan, and inconclusive talks about acquiring another large news organization.

Mr. Ryan's focus on productivity and office attendance in the newsroom has also been a source of tension. He has expressed his belief to members of his leadership team that there were numerous low performers in the newsroom who needed to be managed out. He has monitored how many staff members come into the office, and has weighed new measures to compel people to return to work, including threats of firings, according to several people at The Post...

"There's no question that we need to diversify what people come to us for," Ms. Buzbee said in an interview. "That's our whole strategy."

The article also note the Post is losing money and views for the same reason all leftwing outlets are losing money and views: the ultimate exhaustion of the All Trump, All the Time format, and most of the lies the media had to tell to keep interest in this format up having since been exposed.

You know when I stopped watching Twin Peaks? When I realized the show was just j***ing me off and that there would never be any resolution to its plotlines. That's the same trap all of the leftwing media has fallen into with Trump.

How many times can the same train run out of the same tracks? How long can the walls close before they're grinding up against each other?

Surely not forever.

Right?

posted by Ace at 03:00 PM

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