How can the Washington Post keep readers and attract new ones? These questions have been confounding the Post for decades. Why, amid a growing Washington region — both wealthy and well-educated — does the Post lose about three percent of its readers every year?
In the June Post Watch column in The Washingtonian, I put the question to readers. Dozens replied with critiques or helpful suggestions. Here’s what Joan, of Washington, D.C., had to say:
“PostPoints won't save the Post. I would cancel my subscription if I didn't think I needed to know about District news–not interested in MD and VA. In about 75 percent of the time the international and national news is in the New York Times the day before and the Northwest Current does a better job of picking up on the local news. Visitors from other parts of the US also comment about the decline in the Post's timely and interesting news reports and editorials. The Sunday Book Review gets smaller and smaller. I do like Tom Seitsma, Reliable Source and Stickler and the series on Walter Reed was very good!! It is sad to see a paper, which once was a strong national paper revert to a local/regional paper.”
My take: Joan is hard on the Post’s national and international coverage. The Post’s reporters stay even or ahead of the competition most of the time. Everyone gets scooped on occasion. But Joan expresses the conflict the paperhas never been able to solve: on one hand she reads it for local news, on the other hand she decries it for reverting to a local paper.
No wonder the Post leadership is confounded.
You can join the conversation on the Post by writing to: savethepost at washingtonian.com
Save The Post
How can the Washington Post keep readers and attract new ones? These questions have been confounding the Post for decades. Why, amid a growing Washington region — both wealthy and well-educated — does the Post lose about three percent of its readers every year?
In the June Post Watch column in The Washingtonian, I put the question to readers. Dozens replied with critiques or helpful suggestions. Here’s what Joan, of Washington, D.C., had to say:
“PostPoints won't save the Post. I would cancel my subscription if I didn't think I needed to know about District news–not interested in MD and VA. In about 75 percent of the time the international and national news is in the New York Times the day before and the Northwest Current does a better job of picking up on the local news. Visitors from other parts of the US also comment about the decline in the Post's timely and interesting news reports and editorials. The Sunday Book Review gets smaller and smaller. I do like Tom Seitsma, Reliable Source and Stickler and the series on Walter Reed was very good!! It is sad to see a paper, which once was a strong national paper revert to a local/regional paper.”
My take: Joan is hard on the Post’s national and international coverage. The Post’s reporters stay even or ahead of the competition most of the time. Everyone gets scooped on occasion. But Joan expresses the conflict the paper has never been able to solve: on one hand she reads it for local news, on the other hand she decries it for reverting to a local paper.
No wonder the Post leadership is confounded.
You can join the conversation on the Post by writing to: savethepost at washingtonian.com
Most Popular in News & Politics
What It Felt Like for a Virginia Marching Band to Win Metallica’s Contest
What’s IN and OUT in DC Restaurant Trends for 2024
Introducing 8 of DC’s Most Stylish
Best of Washington 2023: Things to Eat, Drink, Do, and Know Right Now
Washingtonian Magazine
May 2024: Great Getaways
View IssueSubscribe
Follow Us on Social
Follow Us on Social
Related
13 Major Concerts and Music Festivals in the DC Area This Spring
Mary Timony on Her Emotional New Album, “Untame the Tiger”
The Beatles in DC: A New Exhibit in Maryland Looks Back on Early Beatlemania
Northern Virginia High School Wins Metallica’s Marching Band Competition
More from News & Politics
These Volunteers Wake Up at Dawn to Collect DC’s Dead—and Injured—Birds
Guest List: 5 People We’d Love to Hang Out With This May
Democrats and Republicans Pass Balls, Not Bills, at Congressional Soccer Game
3 New Memoirs by Prominent Women
Everything You Wanted to Know About Urban Bear Sightings but Were Afraid to Ask, Because Who Wants to Get That Close to a Bear?
Rockville Police Are Searching for Culprits of a $4,500 Pickleball Paddle Heist
Dozens of Vintage Planes Will Fly Over the National Mall This Saturday
PHOTOS: “Rupaul’s Drag Race” Queens Work It at the National Mall