3 ms·

Changing strategy was inevitable. They lost 90% of readers between 2021 and 2024. It would be a dereliction of duty for the owner of the company to continue bus

by ipnon 2y ago

Changing strategy was inevitable. They lost 90% of readers between 2021 and 2024. It would be a dereliction of duty for the owner of the company to continue business as usual in such conditions.

brewdad 2y ago
They lost most of those readers due to an alarming shift rightward in tone and coverage. Not Fox News right but certainly further right than they have historically been. Seems an odd choice to combat that loss by apparently shifting further right. You are never going to get large numbers of Fox News consumers to read WaPo. They have been told for decades how far left the Post is and that it can't be trusted. Bezos needs a hobby I guess.
- edmundsauto 2y ago
  Right wing news is popular in America, I don’t think this could be the main reason why they had such steep declines.
  - sarchertech 2y ago
    It could be. If their reputation changed slower than their content.
  - PaulDavisThe1st 2y ago
    If you start out being popular among people who prefer one approach to reporting and opinion, and unpopular among people who prefer something entirely different, and then you incrementally move away from what you used to do, at the same time as the second group of people have plenty of other options to choose from ... this is precisely what you'd expect. WaPo was viewed as a liberal, slightly left-of-center newspaper that did excellent investigative reporting. It therefore was all but ignored by those whose preferred version of the news is presented by e.g. FOX News. As it has taken some subtle and some not-so-subtle steps to move away from its reputation, that has done nothing to encourage FOX News viewers to read it, and a lot to discourage its former audience from continuing to do so. So one "side" has declined, and the other "side" has no reason to increase.
  - unethical_ban 2y ago
    Right wing media is popular. Right wing news is a niche. See the WSJ and National Review, now WaPo. Not much other news.
  - starkparker 2y ago
    WaPo dropped 10% of its subscriber base in just the one week after the endorsement debacle in October. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/oct/29/washington-post-subscriber-cancellations https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/oct/29/washington-pos...
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- JeremyNT 2y ago
  Indeed, with his wealth the financial success of the paper is irrelevant. Just as with Musk and Twitter, controlling the narrative and pushing an agenda is worth far more than any balance sheets could show.

by ipnon 2y ago

Changing strategy was inevitable. They lost 90% of readers between 2021 and 2024. It would be a dereliction of duty for the owner of the company to continue business as usual in such conditions.

brewdad 2y ago

They lost most of those readers due to an alarming shift rightward in tone and coverage. Not Fox News right but certainly further right than they have historically been. Seems an odd choice to combat that loss by apparently shifting further right. You are never going to get large numbers of Fox News consumers to read WaPo. They have been told for decades how far left the Post is and that it can't be trusted. Bezos needs a hobby I guess.

edmundsauto 2y ago
Right wing news is popular in America, I don’t think this could be the main reason why they had such steep declines.
- sarchertech 2y ago
  It could be. If their reputation changed slower than their content.
- PaulDavisThe1st 2y ago
  If you start out being popular among people who prefer one approach to reporting and opinion, and unpopular among people who prefer something entirely different, and then you incrementally move away from what you used to do, at the same time as the second group of people have plenty of other options to choose from ... this is precisely what you'd expect. WaPo was viewed as a liberal, slightly left-of-center newspaper that did excellent investigative reporting. It therefore was all but ignored by those whose preferred version of the news is presented by e.g. FOX News. As it has taken some subtle and some not-so-subtle steps to move away from its reputation, that has done nothing to encourage FOX News viewers to read it, and a lot to discourage its former audience from continuing to do so. So one "side" has declined, and the other "side" has no reason to increase.
- unethical_ban 2y ago
  Right wing media is popular. Right wing news is a niche. See the WSJ and National Review, now WaPo. Not much other news.
- starkparker 2y ago
  WaPo dropped 10% of its subscriber base in just the one week after the endorsement debacle in October. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/oct/29/washington-post-subscriber-cancellations https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/oct/29/washington-pos...
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
JeremyNT 2y ago
Indeed, with his wealth the financial success of the paper is irrelevant. Just as with Musk and Twitter, controlling the narrative and pushing an agenda is worth far more than any balance sheets could show.