Shame on The Washington Post
This edition discusses The Washington Post's opinion page overhaul and shifting media landscapes.
Wednesday morning saw the shocking news that The Washington Post was changing its opinion pages. Jeff Bezos announced that the Post will now be dedicating these pages to the support and defense of personal liberties and free market. My guess is that there will be no support or defense of transgender rights despite such rights falling under personal liberties.
David Shipley was offered the role but declined. As such, the paper is seeking a new opinion editor. The Post is largely considered the paper of record in the nation’s capitol, having been founded back in 1877. But let’s be honest, the paper is no longer the paper that used to be published by The Washington Post Company. Ben Bradlee is not going to be walking through the door.
We’re living in a very different era of news and media than the one that existed in the early 2000s. A number of larger outlets have been laying off writers and staff at a frequent pace. I’ve seen the impact on entertainment journalists since the pandemic started in March 2020. It took a few years to recover and then the double strikes took place.
I lost a freelance column at the start of the pandemic and it never returned. Another outlet—which I had been working with as a freelance contributor since 2018—took a pair of freelance interviews and that was the last time my work was published there. Thanks to a colleague, I started covering BTL craft interviews, beginning in late 2020. This lasted until early 2024 and the publisher still owes a four-figure amount. It speaks to publishers not forecasting the impact of the strikes.
But as we’ve seen, it’s more than just entertainment outlets. News media is changing in front of our eyes as cable news outlets are shifting their programming. Beyond that, journalists are choosing to go the independent route rather than work for a corporate-owned media. I’ve personally seen how Gannett has shrunk local newspapers. The Courier-Journal back home is no longer the paper that it used to be. Aside from a few local journalists, they largely depend on USA Today for sports. As for entertainment coverage, let’s just say that trade publications are way better.
Sports journalism is really different in the era of social media. Journalists now have to tweet the news in addition to writing a column. The best journalists know how to keep bringing in eyeballs. If a feature story on an athlete piques my interest, I’ll read. As for trades, social media remains the best source for those reports.
There are downsides for going the independent route. It’s way less profitable and there’s no guarantee that your audience will follow you. G-d only knows how much audience I shed as a result of Elon buying Twitter. Audiences have only continued to fracture. Bluesky might have over 30 million users but I’ve yet to see any kind of increase in traffic from the platform. It’s sad because of how much traffic I’ve lost on SATM after a portion of my readership ditched me for being a vocal Zionist after October 7. But at the same time, post-January 20, who really wants entertainment news and opinions right now?
This newsletter is completely reader-supported. Unfortunately, it never become the profitable newsletter that I hoped it would, at least not to the extent that so many Substack publishers are making. Despite people saying that they would pay to subscribe if I left Substack, they never did. I hope this changes throughout the next year, especially as I start publishing at a frequent basis than I have in recent years.
If I feel that I have something to say about politics, news or anything else, I’m going to say it.