Later in the meeting, another reporter asked Lewis whether “any women or people of color were interviewed and seriously considered for either of these positions,” a question that prompted applause. Lewis said there will be “significant opportunities” within the new organizational structure. Asked by another staffer about which people he met with, Lewis said, “It was an iterative, messy process, which I don’t want to go into the details of.”...
At one point Lewis was asked whether he was intentionally bringing in people who come from a different culture than the Post. “We are losing large amounts of money. Your audience has halved in recent years. People are not reading your stuff. I can’t sugarcoat it anymore,” Lewis said. “So I’ve had to take decisive, urgent action to set us on a different path, sourcing talent that I have worked with that are the best of the best.”...There's also something Lewis is calling the "third newsroom." Opinions are the second newsroom. The "third newsroom" is "service and social media journalism": "The aim is to give the millions of Americans—who feel traditional news is not for them but still want to be kept informed—compelling, exciting and accurate news where they are and in the style that they want." I read that to mean that The Washington Post wants a separate division that talks and acts like social media. Something that impatient young people can dip into for relaxation and fun, like TikTok.
“Don’t we need our brilliant social journalists and service journalists as embedded in our core product to make sure that people are actually reading the thing that’s out at the center of the mission of the Washington Post?” one staffer asked, to which Lewis replied, “You haven’t done it. I’ve listened to the platitudes. Honestly, it’s just not happening.”
“So we’re just going to give up on—”
“No, I want you to be inspired,” Lewis said. “It’s the most important thing: untapped audiences. If what I cause to happen is you all get it, great, but the game is up,” he said. “I’m setting up a structure where I’m not going to be guessing.”...
You haven’t done it.... you don't "get it"... Lewis had to take control, because "the game" was up. What does "it" mean? What was "the game"? Maybe you had to be there to understand. Maybe "it" just means: We're a business and we need readers, readers who will pay. But what was "the game"? The "game" of doing journalism without paying attention to the numbers? Or was it a "game" of putting DEI concerns ahead of the numbers?
ADDED: What is "service journalism"? Wikipedia says the term refers to "generally consumer-oriented features and advice, ranging from the serious to the frivolous." These are the "tips and features on fashion, food, and travel." It's what U.S. News & World Report calls "News You Can Use."
Back in the 1970s, before I went to law school, I worked in market research on magazines. One of the projects was measuring the amount of "news you can use" in U.S. News & World Report and its competitor news magazines.
And now I remember that the women's magazines — Ladies Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, etc. — were referred to as "service magazines." I'll spare you the feminist rant about the interchangeability of "women" and "service." But remember when newspapers had a "women's" section, labeled "WOMEN"? There was a men's section too. The label was "SPORTS."
ALSO: After writing this post, I went over to the WaPo website to see what was going on there. I ran up against the front-page teasers for todays "service journalism." It is crushingly stupid:
9. Buy a baller snack
If the Toblerone bar as long as your arm is calling, it’s your duty to answer. Even if the price of Chex Mix is high, grab a few bags of your favorites off the snack wall at Hudson News. Scout out local bakery outposts if an airport has one, such as Ladurée at Charles de Gaulle in Paris. Vending machines have evolved, with cupcakes and edible cookie dough in Las Vegas and hot ramen at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.
Yikes.
Posts
146 comments:
White men have occupied the butt end of the quota system my entire life, and I’m 74. I was born in a shack in the middle of the cornfields in rural Illinois, and I was the scapegoat of that system my entire working career.
I did an end around because I’m clever and my tech skills were always in demand. I’d hate to be a young, hetero white man in today’s job market.
Freddie DeBoer did a powerful piece last year on how clueless crusading journos are about the new economic realities.
https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/its-all-just-displacement
"People are not reading your stuff."
At least someone is...so we don't have to.
Ownership basically said, "You suck. I can't sugarcoat it anymore."
DEI/Race-based hiring/Progressivism passing for journalism/Party over Facts all conspired to turn WaPo into a laughing stock from which it will not recover.
Good luck to the kids screaming about 'White men'.
The rumor was that WaPo was run by the CIA via some kind of blackmail/trade with Bezos. I don't know that the CIA cares about DEI though, just readers.
It's like watching a suicide in slow motion.
Or perhaps that scene from "State of Fear" later turned into the movie "The Green Inferno", where they think they are good activist all the way up to the point the cannibals start stripping off their flesh. Except I guess here, you could wonder if the fools are Will Lewis or the WaPo staff.
Maybe it's because they are a mouthpiece for Joe Biden and the Progressive party, and not a "NEWS" source for other people??
We're a business and we need readers, readers who will pay
I don’t believe WaPo and NYT see this as part of their mission any longer. Their goal is INFLUENCE. It is clear many on the left are frustrated their propaganda isn’t having the intended impact like it did four years ago. Compare Ann’s cynicism today vs four years ago…
There’s so much leftie money sloshing around I’m certain some of it ends up at the propaganda arms of the party. That’s why they can afford to poke holes in the paywall for people like Ann to distribute…
Making your appeal more selective only works for so long.
Didn't he state "Althouse is shredding our bullshit storytelling mercilessly" the other day?
When Warren Buffett owned the Buffalo, New York newspaper there was a strike. Warren essentially told them they were all replaceable. Warren was right.
Putting unqualified black ladies at the head of your organization backfires every time. Focus on the word unqualified…
Nah, that would be factual.
“Two white buddies”? Nice try assholes. The truth, as your publisher pointed out, is you have lost your audience and most subscribers by going hard Left and blaming all the world’s ills on MAGA white guys. You elevated Taylor Lorenz at the expense of your credibility. You need the steady mainstream American governance that will be provided by the editors from The Telegraph and the WSJ, two of the most respected news organizations left in a landscape littered with failures to report.
At least these guys know News. And maybe they can lure back some of the 50% that dropped their subscriptions. Maybe. The opening of a “third newsroom” to which they will shuffle Jen Rubin and Taylor etc. before slowly defunding it in favor of the new National Desk is big move, a sign. If they shortly announce that the ridiculous motto about muh democracy! will be removed from the masthead that will be your second big sign that the times are indeed a-changing. The third sign will be pink and personal although we all know Taylor will take to social media with her trademark teenage angst temper tantrum.
This is good news for America. Bezos’ team can see which way the wind blows.
The children think that they should dictate how the daycare is run.
The DEI ideology misses the point once again.
White men have accomplished a LOT in human history. This has often involved creativity and inventions, and sometimes followed creative and original ways to exploit, control, and dominate others. So even when truly evil, white. men. have. often. been. very. good. at. winning.
The recent failures of grossly unqualified and incapable DEI figureheads can be ended the easy way (in private with diplomacy) or the hard way (in public with bitterness and sour grapes). Following the terrible DEI promotions of the George Floyd and Trump era, ending the high-profile DEI failures now will often be humiliating.
Let's see if he posts up a truly conservative set of reporters and opinion makers. If he was egregiously sly they would be conservative POC men and women.
Or was it a "game" of putting DEI concerns ahead of the numbers?
Yes. This was spelled out clearly in the WSJ article on The Sunday Night Bloodbath that ran Monday or Tuesday. PowerLine Blog has excerpts not protected by the WSJ paywall.
Lewis is saying they don't have the luxury of focusing on luxury problems right now. He says he won't sugarcoat it, but he still kinda does. These kids have failed as journalists and the leadership has failed them by not setting them straight sooner.
The "3rd newsroom" is a sop to the woke kids. "Don't hurt the real paper and don't cost us too much money and we won't fire you" is the real message.
The way it is supposed to work, Jeff, is that you print the tripe the security state wants you to print, and they do you favors in your other businesses, and leave your billions alone. You don't want to end up like Elon Musk, do you, getting dragged into a bullshit Delaware Court, the one where Hunter bragged about knowing all of the judges, and having tens of billions taken away from you in what even the judge admitted was an unprecedented decision. Well, she didn't say "unprecedented," she said that her "court had gone where no other court had dared to go." or something like that.
Leland said...
the movie "The Green Inferno", where they think they are good activist all the way up to the point the cannibals start stripping off their flesh.
That's a movie that deserves a remake and should be marketed as a schadenfreude comedy.
"Lewis had to take control, because "the game" was up. What does "it" mean? What was "the game"?"
Ohh, I don't know/ perhaps someone might, just might consider the news is a BUSINESS.
In this case a business where the current path needs a massive infusion of sugar daddy nectar. And that is not enough.
Imagine if Mikey D's only sold half as many burgers as they did five years ago. If their profit margin collapsed and numerous franchises disappeared...
The Chairman of the board shows up at a store and says this CAN NOT go on. Would he listen patiently while the fry cook, smoking a cigarette over the grease pit explained why he must continue down the current path?
If Taylor Lorenz and Phillip Bump are on that staff as of this moment, then this is all bullshit.
Speaking of sugar coat: In Canada they still sell Super Sugar Crisp. I looked for Sugar Pops but did not see…
Maybe it's because they are a mouthpiece for Joe Biden and the Progressive party, and not a "NEWS" source for other people??
Exactly. Taken in their entirety, Lewis's remarks are an explicit acknowledgement of and turn away from this fact. Watch the masthead*. Or, like me, watch for Althouse or John Hinderaker to tell us when it changes.
* Mine follows the traditional definition, although I'm including their motto along with the traditional contents, and it is that motto I expect to disappear or maybe change: "The nameplate or masthead of a newspaper or periodical is its designed title as it appears on the front page or cover."
Here's the message: "We are your employer, not your sponsor."
We found in the 1970s that the WaPo and much of the rest of the news was "owned" by the Cia. Read about the [Sen. Frank] church committee
CIA said they would stop buying journalists and media.
There is no evidence they ever did stop.
Perhaps bezos is allowing WaPo to fail as the only means to get the Cia out. Kind of like burning down the house to drive the rats out. You wind up with no house but a nice location to rebuild on.
In other news, the owner of a competing (Cia free?) news service, epoch times, has been charged with money laundering.
Even 4 years ago most of us would have thought there was some basis for this.
Now? My first thought is cia/fbi op. Second thought is maybe he's laundering.
John Henry
@JAORE: Imagine if Mikey D's only sold half as many burgers as they did five years ago. If their profit margin collapsed and numerous franchises disappeared...
Don't imagine...see Bud Light...see the boycott...see the layoffs...see it losing first place in the beer market...and that happened with far less than a 50% decline...
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/05/09/bud-light-boycott-sales-impact/73630487007/
There are way too many news outlets (and universities) these days. They struggle to remain relevant and solvent. They grasp at straws and seek salvation from billionaires or the government.
The game is up?
I guess we're not allowed to say jig anymore.
I think I need to add another layer to my tinfoil hat.
John Henry
I think it is funny, and interesting, how many people -- Althouse included -- are talking about editorial changes when they happen at, say, the Washington Post, or the New York Times, or CNN, or NBC, etc. People -- Althouse included -- aren't wrong to have an interest in that. These are the giants of news. That may be a bit overrated; there are so many important, disparate news outlets I couldn't count them all in a single comment. But the significant thing is that we pay attention to the giants of the mainstream media because their editors are as important as their institutions. They are making serious decisions about covering serious news.
Nobody gives two shits about editorial changes at the New York Post, or the Washington Times, or the Fox News Channel. (Certainly there are big celebrities and big scandals at Fox which make their own news; Tucker Carlson getting fired, defamation settlements, dozens of sexual harassers. And those are stories unto themselves. But not because they represent any important journalism standards.) They are just manufacturing grievance porn for the outer boroughs, and it doesn't really matter who is running the machinery.
I bet the disgruntled staffers say "they feel unsafe" soon, if they haven't already.
Imagine having a boss who gives you a bad performance review, or has the audacity to disagree with your world view. This is new territory, and they are not going to take it lying down.
This kind of racism and misogyny demands a response, right?
Right? We'll see how the guys at Langley handle this. They have a lot on their plate right now.
Pendulums do tend to swing both ways. Except for Foucault's, of course.
Imagine coming up with this stuff every day
Soul-crushing to an idealistic young person steeped in an idealistic education and working in an idealistic environment. You can see how the Post's "brilliant service journalists" would want to put things in their pieces that seem important and meaningful.
Anyway, do service journalists have to wear those vests?
I had written off WaPo. I'll have to look at it again.
If you are going on a deep dive, we recommend ignoring the old white guys - Oceangate
The dogs have stopped eating the dog food.
Making it multi-colored wasn’t the answer.
In other news, the owner of a competing (Cia free?) news service, epoch times, has been charged with money laundering.
Your theory is unfortunately plausible. Corroborating that assumption is the way "mainstream media" have reported this story as "the news organization accused" instead of the owner's business unconnected to TET, with the cherry on top being the descriptor "...which has run conspiracy theories as news and favorable articles about Donald Trump."
I strongly suspect those last 5 words paraphrased are the real message MSM wants to get out regarding the money laundering story.
Ah Chuckles--"important journalism" at Washington Post and New York Times? Maybe back in the day when you were still in rompers. Today, not so much.
Think of news as dog food. And the kiddoes at the Washington Post thought they were making dog kibble. And their diminishing band of readers mistook it for dog krap. They won't eat it any more--and the owners of the factory noticed.
“Don’t we need our brilliant social journalists and service journalists as embedded in our core product to make sure that people are actually reading the thing that’s out at the center of the mission of the Washington Post?”
What's "the thing" at the center of the mission? What's "the mission" of the Washington Post? What is the thing nobody seems to want to come out and say at this meeting? They talk around it, but there's an implied assumption that everyone knows exactly what they are talking about.
Is it the narrative, the larger narrative that all the MSM outlets are in lockstep on?
So the WaPo is a content mill now.
@John henry: We found in the 1970s that the WaPo and much of the rest of the news was "owned" by the Cia. Read about the [Sen. Frank] church committee
Many people are attracted by what the CIA does and knows. I think some outsiders very happily slide into working with the CIA. Consider:
1. The glamour an intrigue of being a spy a la James Bond
2. The power trip that comes from knowing and manipulating the private lives of others
3. Patriotism, guided or misguided, in supporting nominal national security
4. Fun and exciting international jobs in embassies and State Department offices
5. High pay, security, and limited accountability with a government job
6. An inside-track career path that may even lead to being President (G.H.W. Bush)
Journalists often seek similar career paths, even though media power comes from persuasion and publicity rather than keeping secrets and directing action. They are natural--and also inherently sleazy--allies.
For some reason I read ALL the previous comments closely, likely because this subject is close to my heart. I'm responding to a specific idiocy upthread in which Fox News Channel made a sudden appearance, but I will relate it directly to the subject at hand:
Yet when it comes to ratings for cable news Fox always has the top ten or more slots, almost exclusively for its shows, largely thanks to the EVP Susan and executive editor Brit Hume. Believe me (or re-read Chuck's bleat and weigh this against that), the other cable news shows do care about ratings, hence the ongoing musical chairs at CNN.
In other words results matter. No one here has written out the names of the two new editors, because the point of the article was the publisher's harsh words about losing their audience. It all comes back to that. He appears to be course correcting back to first principles: i.e. cover the news in a neutral fashion so the audience can make up their own mind. This is a big turnaround from the preferred LLR/MSNBC approach of Lefty Fanboy Journ-0-lism. Long overdue.
I wish Lewis luck. I was trained by real journalists to do real news the right way, mostly using the NYT and their internal Style Guide as the industry exemplar, and have been disappointed in the decline of "news" over the course of my adult life. Honest informed observers can see that The Telegraph and the WSJ have declined less in relation to the NYT and WaPo and the rest. I notice our resident bomb-throwing Trump hating lifelong "republican" left those two off his list, although they figure quite prominently in the subject of this post by Althouse. We all know why.
WaPo needs to cut a lot of chaff. They all see it coming. They’ve done a disservice to their readers by feeding their fantasies instead of providing truth.
Don Suber's article:
"Media pays for getting Trump wrong"
https://donsurber.substack.com/p/media-pays-for-getting-trump-wrong
I asked Bing's AI to write the Cool Pet story, here's what it produced in 30 seconds:
"As the summer sun blazes in the sky, pet owners everywhere are looking for ways to keep their furry friends cool and comfortable. Here are seven tips to help your pet beat the heat this summer.
1. Hydration is Key Just like humans, pets need to stay hydrated, especially during the hot summer months. Always ensure your pet has access to fresh, clean water. Consider adding ice cubes to the water bowl for an extra cooling effect.
2. Create a Cool Retreat Create a cool, shady retreat for your pet. This could be under a tree, a specially designed pet tent, or even a cool room inside your house. A cooling mat can also provide a nice, cool place for your pet to relax.
3. Invest in a Pet Pool A pet pool can be a great investment for the summer. Not only does it provide a place for your pet to cool off, but it also provides a fun activity. Always supervise your pet while they’re in the pool to ensure their safety.
4. Early Morning or Late Evening Walks Avoid walking your pet during the hottest parts of the day. Instead, opt for early morning or late evening walks when the temperature is cooler.
5. Frozen Treats Consider making some pet-friendly frozen treats. There are plenty of recipes online that use pet-safe ingredients. These can be a fun and tasty way for your pet to cool down.
6. Regular Grooming Regular grooming can help keep your pet cool. A well-groomed coat can help protect your pet from the sun and keep them cool. However, never shave your pet without consulting a vet, as this can interfere with their natural cooling mechanisms.
7. Know the Signs of Overheating Finally, it’s important to know the signs of overheating in pets, which can include excessive panting, drooling, and lethargy. If you notice these signs, take steps to cool your pet down and consult a vet if necessary.
Remember, our pets rely on us to keep them safe and comfortable. By following these tips, you can ensure your pet stays cool and happy all summer long. Stay cool!"
"Journalists" are not required to produce this sort of mindless dreck. And absolutely NOBODY is going to pay for this sort of "news."
their diminishing band of readers mistook it for dog krap
The great mockumentary This is Spinal Tap turned 40 years old last month. This [reworked] line is apt: "Your [subscribers] are not so much smaller in number, it's just your [news audience] is becoming more selective."
That's using a lot of words to just say: Get Woke - Go Broke
I would say his first mistake - confirmed by some of the challenges and questions that he received - was to assume that he was speaking to adults. There are some brilliant young people coming along in today's world, but there's too much competition for the spotlight from the Gerontocracy, and we're not seeing them. We're just seeing the hacks in the media that went to college and weren't smart enough to avoid indoctrination.
So, the great reversion-to-the-mean is well underway. The over-funded billionaire dilettantes are enjoying the bitter fruits of their indulgences. Hallelujah.
Diversity, Equivocation, Indoctrination (IED) : racism, sexism... genderism, etc.
If it wasn’t for white men, they would still be living in mud huts with outhouses, and plowing their fields with oxen to scrape a subsistence living from the land. You’re welcome!
"If Taylor Lorenz and Phillip Bump are on that staff as of this moment, then this is all bullshit."
If they really cared about profit
If they really had any sense
They'd really stop sugarcoating it
And get rid of Taylor Lorenz
Eric the Fruit Bat said...
“The game is up?
I guess we're not allowed to say jig anymore.”
Blatant anti-Irish bigotry.
Eric the Fruit Bat said...
“The game is up?
I guess we're not allowed to say jig anymore.”
Blatant anti-Irish bigotry.
TL;DR: "WaPo succumbs to White (Male) Supremacy."
Women and minorities hardest hit.
Pro tip for those who want to keep up with the latest drivel from WaPo:
Several years ago I qualified for a $1/month educators' digital subscription. Much as I hated giving them even that pittance, I thought it valuable to keep up with State-Controlled media and what it was saying about me.
After some time I no longer qualified for the discount. I went online and told them I want to cancel; no way I was paying them real money for anything. The web bot asked why I was cancelling. I chose the Too Expensive option. The next screen offered to keep me on at $1/month. I have been on this plan ever since.
They lose money on me but hope to make it up on volume.
“Don’t we need our brilliant social journalists and service journalists as embedded in our core product to make sure that people are actually reading the thing that’s out at the center of the mission of the Washington Post?”
Good God, these people are insufferable. They don't live in a bubble, they live in a freaking bassinet.
LLR-democratical And Violent Homosexual Rage Rape Fantasist Chuck: "But the significant thing is that we pay attention to the giants of the mainstream media because their editors are as important as their institutions. They are making serious decisions about covering serious news."
LOL
Your 10 year old pro-far left/pro-dem deflection schtick is so hilariously old and tired and out of place and believed by none that I now have to chalk up your failure to alter the LLR-democratical posting formula to a combination of incompetence and pure laziness...and perhaps 1 too many morning gin and tonics!
And try to control yourself enough to not inundate Althouse with hundreds of schizophrenic and creepily stalker-like DM's again.
I won't repeat Paglia's apt quote.
I've been reading a lot of WWII books. The (mostly) men who came back from that war had a far better appreciation for what really matters, and it showed in their work in Newspapers and TV/Radio. It seems like "journalists" today are usually using their power not to right wrongs, but to advance the viewpoint of only the Democratic Party.
The conclusion should not be, however, that a global war is needed every now and again to teach people what's important. The conclusion should be that History should be taught and learned by "journalists".
"untapped audiences"--normies and Republicans? I think he means digital products. For example, we only subscribe to NYT online games product to do the crossword puzzle.
By the way, it is Sir William Lewis. He got a UK knighthood in 2022.
I am struck be the impact that the Murdoch publications and the Telegraph papers (UK), both of which are right-leaning, have had on journalism both in the US and the UK. Lewis is an example of that, but so are the fellows he is hiring at WaPoo. Maybe it can become WaPo again.
Those snowflakes in the newsroom had better produce. Lewis knows how to find people who can.
They fired taylor lorenz but her stench lingers look at the last series of bezos related threads
"we now have four white men running three newsrooms."
A nice tell on prog priorities: identity trumps quality, and white men are the worst.
"sourcing talent that I have worked with that are the best of the best.”
But it doesn't matter how good they are. What matters is if there are customers willing to pay for their product, if only via advertising.
"compelling, exciting and accurate news where they are and in the style that they want . . . Something that impatient young people can dip into for relaxation and fun, like TikTok."
Is there an audience for "accurate" news? Is it big enough to be a sustainable business? All the new that fits the prog agenda--sure, there's an audience for that, but the NYT has already captured it.
"Or was it a "game" of putting DEI concerns ahead of the numbers?"
Well, yes, like almost everywhere else.
"It is crushingly stupid"
OK, but what do young women want to read? Stories about the Roman Empire?
BTW that wasn't Will Lewis talking, that was Jeff Bezos speaking through Lewis. Even multi-billionaires have limited patience. Or maybe Bezos is preparing for November. A new administration may Epoch him.
""But the significant thing is that we pay attention to the giants of the mainstream media because their editors are as important as their institutions."
The guys who made the decision not to publish the truth about Hunter's laptop because the truth has a pro-Trump bias. Same guy who wants Trump in prison for paying Stormy Daniels to be quiet is fine with these guys withholding the truth from American voters, and thinks that it is important that voters be kept in the dark, because, you know, his honest opinion is that they shouldn't be allowed to vote anyways.
Maybe the DNC can buy 5 million yearly subscriptions rather than 1 million and save some jobs at WaPo.
So now the cool guys from the sophmore cheer squad are going to be editing our National High School Newspaper of record?
I hope they get the box scores right.
Shorter Chuck the Cunt:
"These deplorables really should be paying attention to the mainstream media, and I don't understand why they mock them."
I have news for you, Chuck- we see through the ocean of bullshit no matter how much you hate it.
"What is "service journalism"?"
It involves kneepads and Democrat genitalia- Chuck can explain it to you, I am sure, since he is well practiced in the art.
Crushingly stupid? No argument here. It fits with the times and who we are as a people, an unserious people. (Our news media, academia/public education, and “the arts” — ha! — have much to do with that.) Coming events will make us serious.
rehajm said...
We're a business and we need readers, readers who will pay
I don’t believe WaPo and NYT see this as part of their mission any longer. Their goal is INFLUENCE. It is clear many on the left are frustrated their propaganda isn’t having the intended impact like it did four years ago. Compare Ann’s cynicism today vs four years ago…
There’s so much leftie money sloshing around I’m certain some of it ends up at the propaganda arms of the party. That’s why they can afford to poke holes in the paywall for people like Ann to distribute…
rehajm is correct here.
They are pulling resources from failing propaganda efforts and moving them to LLMs and search.
it's FUNNY, that filling newsrooms with clueless women, that ALL don't know the same things;
has cost modern media readership. You'd ASSUME that MOST people WANT to read what clueless women say.
At least, you'd assume that *IF* you were a clueless woman
@Michael 6/5/24, 6:44 AM - The Freddie de Boer piece you cite is actually more than three years old now. An excerpt:
"In the span of a decade or so, essentially all professional media not explicitly branded as conservative has been taken over by a school of politics that emerged from humanities departments at elite universities and began colonizing the college educated through social media. Those politics are obscure, they are confusing, they are socially and culturally extreme, they are expressed in a bizarre vocabulary, they are deeply alienating to many, and they are very unpopular by any definition. The vast majority of the country is not woke, including the vast majority of women and people of color. How could it possibly be healthy for the entire media industry to be captured by any single niche political movement, let alone one that nobody likes? Why does no one in media seem willing to have an honest, uncomfortable conversation about the near-total takeover of their industry by a fringe ideology?
"And the bizarre assumption of almost everyone in media seems to have been that they could adopt this brand of extreme niche politics, in mass, as an industry, and treat those politics as a crusade that trumps every other journalistic value, with no professional or economic consequences. They seem to have thought that Americans were just going to swallow it; they seem to have thought they could paint most of the country as vicious bigots and that their audiences would just come along for the ride. They haven’t."
The WaPo is not a newspaper that prints news, its a propaganda arm for the DNC and a crying towel for the liberal/left. Its always been like that to a certain extent, but Trump arrival on the scene in August 2015 has ramped it up to x10.
Its not just Trump, the WaPo and the liberal/left Establishment has gone hard left since 2012. And completely dropped the mask, no American norm/tradition will be followed if it gets in their way of gaining or keeping power.
As a result no reason for anyone to the Right of Joe Biden to read the WaPo. Further, since the WaPo and the other MSM write the same stories in the same way, why pay the WaPO for your liberal party line stories? Just read the google news or the AP. its the same slop.
Finally, Newspapers are one of the few businesses where the customer is always wrong. The WaPo writers/editors are proud that they write stories for each other and not a majority of their audience. Or proud they push the zionist/leftwing agenda. So, we get endless stories about abortion, trannys, racism, antisemitism, climate change, police brutality, Iran, and how awful Russia is. Stories that average Americans want to read about are either minimized or ignored altogether.
So good luck Mr. WaPo owner, you'll need it.
GLAD to see that poor Chuck is still up! (long night!) It's FUN to have him around to laugh at
But, poor Chuck; you're exhausting yourself with your extra typing.. What you wanted to say is just:
Nobody gives two shits about poor Chuck, because he's just manufacturing grievance porn.
BTW, the history of WaPo is somewhat interesting. Today it is THE DC newspaper, but when Eugene Meyer, a rich Jewish Financier, bought it in 1934, it was on its last legs. Meyer, wanted a liberal globalist voice in DC, and lost a million dollars year all through the 30s and 40s. By 1950 it was still just 1 of 4 major papers.
Then came a consolidation of the newspapers. Meyer bought one of the other 3. And the another one closed down. That left two by the early 60s. And the other one was underfunded and barely scrapped by. So the WaPo took its place with the NY Times as the elite liberal newspaper.
Let me remind you why Chuckles had to insert a slander of the NYP in his unstructureded rant above. It's because they had the Big Scoop of 2020 and must therefore be forever shunned by all "right-thinking" (i.e. inveterate Leftist and LLR) people. Contra the Ickster, Miranda Devine takes a victory lap today while reporting on the Hunter trial:
Hunter Biden’s “Laptop from Hell” is government exhibit 16 at the first son’s gun trial in Delaware. The silver MacBook Pro 13, covered in a clear plastic wrapper, was first publicly sighted Tuesday at 2:10 p.m. when it was carried across the court by prosecutor Derek Hines to his first witness, FBI Special Agent Erika Jensen, who confirmed it was Hunter’s laptop from the serial number on the back.
Confirmed, losers. By the prosecutions first witness.
Sitting at the bar table, Hunter was inscrutable behind salmon pink reading glasses as the laptop that threatens to put him in jail and politically scorch his father coasted serenely across the room. Three years and eight months since you heard it first in the New York Post, Jensen said that the laptop was obtained by the FBI in 2019 with a subpoena from The Mac Shop in Wilmington where it had been “abandoned” by Hunter.
Yet some here will continue to deny it. When this sham trial is over (both prosecution and defense are working diligently to acquit) will Chucklet use the not guilty verdict to claim the laptop is not really Hunter's?
Yeah probably.
"Anyway, do service journalists have to wear those vests?"
Yeah, but you can buy them online. They don't mean anything. They only exist so you can take your pet into Starbucks.
So to speak.
"Anyway, do service journalists have to wear those vests?"
Yeah, but you can buy them online. They don't mean anything. They only exist so you can take your pet into Starbucks.
So to speak.
cfs said...
Don Suber's article: 6/5/24, 7:51 AM
Glad to see someone else reads Surber's substack. It's a daily visit for me. He has such a keen eye for spotlighting the absurd in the news business.
Narciso are you thinking NYT, who fired her? Taylor may still be at WaPo.
The questioner asking if any women or POC were considered for the newly filled positions is pure racism, yet the questioner doesn't even realize it, and would argue against that perspective on the question. Such willful blindness deserves to fail. Lewis needs to clean house not just at the top, but from the bottom up, probably including the janitorial staff.
Prediction: If Trump wins in November, WaPo subscriptions will skyrocket. If Biden wins, WaPo will transition to a Newsweek-like rag. Regardless of what newsrooms and editors they employ.
Hey, racist and sexist pig: fuck off and die
Stop worrying about the sex and skin color of people, and instead focus on their competence and accomplishments, or lack thereof
Oh, wait , all you Didn't Earn It people are completely lacking in competence and real accomplishments (as opposed to DEI gifts). Thus the obsession with skin color and sex
"Narciso are you thinking NYT, who fired her? Taylor may still be at WaPo."
Second. I can't find any info of her being let go. That hag is so beyond the pale...if she manages to stay none of this is serious. You cannot wax pessimistic about your finances while continuing to employ a 40ish Teen-Beat hysteric like Lorenz.
The great harm Nixon did was to elevate the work of two writers at the WaPo into “investigative journalists” who were suddenly lionized, feted and made rich. Thus did everyone working for a newspaper from the editors to the food writers become investigative journalists.
This won't really change the direction at WAPO. They know that they can't regain their former audience. That's gone forever. They will double and triple down on Progressive nonsense in new formats.
Also, Taylor Lorenz wasn't canned. She's still covering the most important stuff, like Twitch streamers holding a fundraising event for Palestinians.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/05/31/twitch-palestinians-fundraiser-politics/
"we now have four white men running three newsrooms."
Now substitute the word "white" for "black" and see how that sounds as a critique.
We aren't privy to all the statements and questions at the meeting, but I assume one of the Wokers said something similar to this:
"We ARE doing the right and proper journalism. Your marketing and operations planning is accounting for the lack of profits. Plus, many of the people who won't buy or subscribe to our illuminating prose are racist, sexist and such. Not our problem. We need to double down on that type of reporting."
“Journalists” generally are not strong in economics and arithmetic. Bezos and his managers are in for some ugly experiences as they try to salvage the WaPo. The Graham family was smart to sell the paper to Bezos for $250 million while it could still fetch a decent price.
Here is another Progressive lie, that was hidden from the public about Nasty Nancy's fake Insurrection hearings....What else are these lying hoaxers hiding from the public to target Trump??
Scared?? Let the truth out...and let's see how much you lied and schemed to target Trump and his supporters because you know they are right, You stole the damn election and put the corpse in office to front for Hussein to finish his fundamental transformation that Hillary was supposed to. These liars should all hang for treason.
Jonathan Turley
@JonathanTurley
Remember the widely reported story of Trump struggling with his driver in the presidential limo on January 6th? The driver’s testimony shows that he offered to testify in July, August and September of 2022, but was “rebuffed” by the committee...https://jonathanturley.org/2024/06/05/report-j6-committee-delayed-secret-service-driver-from-refuting-false-limo-story-of-cassidy-hutchinson/
furthermore as Steyn suggested Katherine Graham nee Meyer may have killed off her husband, this was in a tere obituary, for fooling around, her lead editor, Ben Bradlee covered uo the the death of Mary Pinchot Meyer, and the diary that was recovered,
Imagine being the new head of WaPo. Your business’s survival depends on having high quality employees that can properly observe the events happening around them and fairly and accurately report what is going on so that others can act on those reports. Then you find out your staff of journalists are the quality of WaPo’s and can’t even figure out what is going to happen to them.
If the Post were being run like a business they would absolutely bring in a DIVERSITY OF VIEWPOINTS. Who cares what color or chosen gender you are. It's your ideas that matter when you're part of an editorial board. Maybe if the Post were to put out an honest, balanced news product they could get some new readers. Organizations like Epoch, Breitbart and PJMedia are making it because they put out things people are intersted in. Singing the company song and saluting the company flag of Leftism is only going to interest that 30% of the wacko fringe.
Our local midsize city newspaper still had a "womens page" in the late 70s and early 80s. Fashion, coooking, Household tips and Kids. And "dear abby" or something similar.
They still have the same things, its just no longer explicity labeled for women.
The interesting point will be to see how someone with the background of the Wall Street Journal and the Daily Telegraph will do in a Washington Post that was once noteworthy for its center-left editorial slant, but has been galloping ever more leftward in recent years.
well that was mark felt's doing, who didn't realize his deeds were recorded in media pennsylvania,
looking at current scribes like david ignatius he is good at relating other peoples stories
Blogger Clyde said...
If it wasn’t for white men, they would still be living in mud huts with outhouses, and plowing their fields with oxen to scrape a subsistence living from the land. You’re welcome!
6/5/24, 8:18 AM
I just watched the beautiful launch of the new Starliner spaceship. It was built and operated mostly by geeky white male engineers. No all but a majority. Meanwhile, our cities, almost all run by far Left socialists, are literally falling apart. I'll put my trust in the geeks every day.
How did they lose half their subscribers in a few years?
No doubt some of them passed away and weren’t replaced by newer subscribers.
The NYTimes seems to be flourishing. They have a solid base of subscribers. Perhaps in the long run as their older subscribers die they won’t be replaced by younger subscribers. But in a few years?
The Post really needs Trump to win again. Villains attract subscribers.
My schadenboner over the Post's "plight" couldn't be any stiffer.
they have coasted on bob woodwards reputation for at least a decade, then they hired david ignatius, because he was a prince of the paper,* and largely on his book sales, in labeled fiction,
*his father was an executive after he served in the johnson administration,
Sell 50% of stock to Miriam Adelson. MA gets to hire half the editors. Team Adelson gets half of the Opinion Section. No news story gets published without the approval of both a Team Bezos editor and a Team Adelson editor. A newspaper containing real debate in Opinions and truly objective reporting might, just might, be worth paying to read.
G-Pub
At some point, Bezos was going to tire of losing money on the Amazon Washington Post, particularly since it looks like he's going to need to martial his money to buy United Lauch Alliance.
White men built the modern world.
Why not have them fix a lefty rag?
They now have 4 white men running 3 newsrooms!
Teh Shame…
"and we now have four white men running three newsrooms."
Said one reporter"
I'd love to see a reply... "Aw, boohoo. Leave this room."
Competence isn't tied to skin color or gender preferences.
It's tied to education, actual accomplishment and focus.
If you've gotten constant positive reinforcement throughout your education, 'participation trophies' so to speak, and never allowed to make mistakes and be held responsible for them, then you may have absolutely excellent self-esteem, and an ego that rivals Gibraltar for size - but do you really know your job? Can you do it well? Can you get someone else to PAY you for what you do? Do you add value to the organization you work for, or do you subtract from it?
Seems like the staff there believe they've got a big say in the way the place is run. And so far, they and their attitudes have been running it into the ground. They don't question WHY things are failing, because it's so very obviously not their fault. They know they're the best, they know they're good, because they've never gotten criticism when they've made mistakes, they've never been held responsible.
So naturally they see this as completely unfair. They've been taught that Diversity=Excellence. Take away the mandated Diversity, and the organization that's struggling at present is bound to fail, right? And putting old white men at the top will just make it fail faster, right? Just like when Musk bought Twitter and got rid of so many people in it - it was going to fail! It was about to close!
But yet - it's still there.
Journalists. They're so... um... 'certain' about what they know and think, and don't realize just how ignorant of so many things they are.
To expand on rc ocean
A year or two back someone here recommended David Halberstam 1976 book "the powers that be" about the newspaper industry in the us.
Excellent book and thanks again to whoever recommended it
It tells the story mainly through deep dives into the histories of WaPo and LA Times.
I came away from this, and from what else I already knew thinking that newspapers today are no worse than they have been historically.
We just have other sources so the sliminess is more visible. And we have outlets for discussion of their awful essay.
John Henry
"The most cynical interpretation sort of feels like you chose two of your buddies to come in and help run the Post, and we now have four white men running three newsrooms."
Ah, no. The most cynical interpretation is that too many members of the staff were chosen because they checked all the right boxes for DEI and not because they have any skill as journalists.
It's also probably the correct interpretation.
If the WaPo was really interested in doing journalism, it would create a team to investigate how the Dems are planning to steal the 2024 election.
I'd send a crew down to Houston, Austin and other cities in Texas and check for newly registered voters who have signed up via Motor Voter. Then follow up on these people. I'd bet that 90% are illegal aliens.
Check MI, PA, OH and FL too.
But this will NEVER happen. There's no "proof" of voter fraud.
Another good book is "citizens of London" by Lynn Olsen.
It is about st Edward of murrow and his crew.
They viewed themselves more as citizens of the world and their allegiance was to dragging the us, kicking and screaming, into another European war.
Well, the American people were kicking and screaming right up to 12/13/41. Fdr & Co, were all in.
Kind of like today in Ukraine.
Slimy fucks. Murrow and crew. I'd shit on his grave given the opportunity.
Remember, no matter how little respect you have for the media, it is too kuch
John Henry
"The recent failures of grossly unqualified and incapable DEI figureheads can be ended the easy way (in private with diplomacy) or the hard way (in public with bitterness and sour grapes). Following the terrible DEI promotions of the George Floyd and Trump era, ending the high-profile DEI failures now will often be humiliating."
Destroys
Every
Industry
I haven't read up on that one, yes they seem very eager to do the same error of a land war in Europe,
network makes them seem noble, schumacher and beale, apprenticed under them, colleagues of howard k smith, and Cronkite, again he only caught half the story about Tet, the real one how the high command had suppressed sam adam's intel estimates,
"I can't sugarcoat it anymore" - Why did he EVER have to sugarcoat it.
Content there is lower quality and readership is down. Why did anyone ever feel that needed to be sugarcoated? Why did they double down and continue the same for so long?
because they believe the nigel tufnel line doesn't apply, same with Disney which sank itself after they bought Lucas films and Marvel from Paramount,
its like the board of 20th century vole, which is what the BBC looks like now, see how they have they have deepsixed doctor who, and have gone all in on Hamas, well after the Khashoggi dirge, they couldn't do otherwise,
"and we now have four white men running three newsrooms."
Said one reporter"
The correct response would be, "Yes, and as of right now they are also filling your position. See security on your way out the door."
Maybe newspapers are just obsolete. I suppose a few of them will survive. There are still haberdashers and watchmakers, but it's not a mass market....Perhaps the Post will survive but its basic business will be not selling news but rather selling influence in Washington. There must be some billionaire out there who wouldn't mind losing a few hundred million a year in order to gain such influence. They need a lean, mean news staff who will do what they're told. Perhaps a few front page articles about how Amazon has improved life for millions and cut green house gases by allowing people to shop at home. They can report on other news, but there should be articles detailing the positive effects of Amazon. Maybe feature a few positive articles about some regulators or Congressmen who have a positive view of Amazon. Some style section articles about the interesting clothes of Mrs. Bezos and the innovative way she's furnished the salon of the yacht. That's the business model. You don't need to give the public what it wants. You need to give Jeff Bezos what he needs.
Companies need to figure out whether they're in business to make money or in the DEI business. it can't be both.
At the Chicago Tribune website, the ten most popular stories usually include at least three Dear Abby columns. If I were a Trib employee I would be embarrassed.
Interested Bystander said...
"If the Post were being run like a business they would absolutely bring in a DIVERSITY OF VIEWPOINTS... Maybe if the Post were to put out an honest, balanced news product they could get some new readers."
No, they would likely lose the readers they have, while attracting few new ones. WaPo readers do not want and would not stand for a diversity of viewpoints. The paper exists to confirm their worldview and if it stops doing that, the readers will move on.
They describe themselves as brilliant. Ha ha
The game of Didn't Earn It is up
I take the word ‘bias’ never came up.
Our best and brightest at the nation's capitol newspaper, WAPO, don't understand you have to take in more money than you spend to keep a newspaper running. Otherwise it gets shut down. How can we rely on these ignorant people for news?
Real American said, "Companies need to figure out whether they're in business to make money or in the DEI business. it can't be both."
Zev said, "The game of Didn't Earn It is up"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Not even close. The pain is nowhere near unbearable enough. This farce has been decades in the making and old habits die hard. There are huge ideological and financial sunk costs here. They bet the farm on this.
They will retool and reconfigure and rearrange things to keep doing what they are doing. They will find new and better ways to hide their discrimination and their hatred. Every effort will be made to find a way to bifurcate these competing interests and make money from both sides, just like corporations do with pride month rainbow logos for some countries but not for others. These crybully lunatics are still running the asylum.
This isn't over by a long shot, nor will it be until DEI and anti-white racism is dragged by the neck in a triumphal parade under Roman arches followed by its quiet strangulation in the Tullianum.
Rather than a mocking "boo hoo", I would prefer a "tough tiddies", but that's just me. It might push some of those people masking as journalists over the edge.
the ten most popular stories usually include at least three Dear Abby columns
If you were Trib newsman you should be embarrassed. Compelling writing sells, even if the subject is lame. I used to read Judith Martin's Miss Manners column because she was wrote beautifully, although I felt like she lived on another planet where the rules still existed.
Blogger NMObjectivist said...
Our best and brightest at the nation's capitol don't understand you have to take in more money than you spend to keep a nation running.
FIFY
The recent failures of grossly unqualified and incapable DEI figureheads can be ended the easy way (in private with diplomacy) or the hard way (in public with bitterness and sour grapes). Following the terrible DEI promotions of the George Floyd and Trump era, ending the high-profile DEI failures now will often be humiliating.
For all your bitching about DEI, Boeing is in the mess it is in right now because of white men. I worked for Sprint. Everybody thought Bill Esrey was a genius until he and Bernie Ebbers crashed the entire industry.
This person will need to fire a number of the employees who think genitalia and skin color are important. A little of that may be useful in getting things focused on product and not the employees' pet causes.
PrimoStL said...
"This isn't over by a long shot, nor will it be until DEI and anti-white racism is dragged by the neck in a triumphal parade under Roman arches followed by its quiet strangulation in the Tullianum."
**********
Agreed. The next countermeasure will be to create a new libel/slander tort for saying someone is a DEI hire.
It won't matter if he/she is, but the mere observation or statement of opinion will be actionable.
I'd bet that 90% are illegal aliens.
I'll take that bet. How much? The idea that undocumented immigrants are going to register to vote (and then actually vote) is patently absurd. Undocumented immigrants try to avoid dealing with the government where and when ever they can is second nature.
I just watched the beautiful launch of the new Starliner spaceship. It was built and operated mostly by geeky white male engineers. No all but a majority. Meanwhile, our cities, almost all run by far Left socialists, are literally falling apart. I'll put my trust in the geeks every day.
I don't think that the Starliner, or Boeing in general, is a shining example of the brilliance of geeky white male engineers or the mangement, who might have murdered one of those geeky white male engineers who tried to expose the gross incompetence at Boeing.
At the Chicago Tribune website, the ten most popular stories usually include at least three Dear Abby columns. If I were a Trib employee I would be embarrassed.
As a former Chicagoan, I recall that the paper started moving strongly to the Left in the '90's.
My mother saves me copies of the paper for when I visit. (I moved to AZ). It is pretty shocking how the paper has declined. Even the Sports section sucks. How can you ##*& up the Sports section that I grew up on?
It is patently obvious that the corporate media is no more than propaganda rags for the Left.
Remember that scene from Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life where the father says "You're all being sold for medical experiments"?
For some reason, it came to mind.
Field Marshall Freder: "I don't think that the Starliner, or Boeing in general, is a shining example of the brilliance of geeky white male engineers or the mangement,..."
It most certainly is...or perhaps rockets zorching across the sky is something you little brains think is no big deal.
Hilarious! Freder slammimg the rocket scientists and smearing them as potential murderers when all the problems at Boeing can be traced back to the placement of the woke management crew and their DEI hires...which Team Dem always supports!
I wonder how much of the nonsense that appears on the digital front page of the New York Times might be characterised as 'service journalism'?
"You're all being sold for medical experiments"?
Planned Personhood... it's a progressive path (PP). First, they came for the babies. #BLM
Freeman Hunt said...
I had written off WaPo. I'll have to look at it again.
Start by verifying the box scores in the Sports section and then work forward to the front page.
Maybe they could assign one of their crack reporters to find out how old Taylor Lorenz is.
Even her wikipedia page gives year of birth as 1984-1987.
You'd think that would be an easily verifiable fact.
The main reason I gave up on the Post 35 years ago was because they were advocating for causes, rather than reporting factual information.
All of the anti-Bezos crowd gathered herein have forgotten that our hostess collects a nice chunk of income every year from the Bezos magic moneymaker called Amazon which turns junk sales into gold. For that matter, I suspect that Blogger pumps a big piece of their electronic cloud volume through Amazon Data Services (AWS).
Then he should stick with what he knows best, Gadfly. Newspapers and spaceflight ain't working for him. He's got a loser high school newspaper and an expensive carnival ride.
I'll take that bet. How much? The idea that undocumented immigrants are going to register to vote (and then actually vote) is patently absurd.
Freder fails to grasp that “absurd” is not the same as “untrue.” Since Inauguration Day 2021 we have been living in thoroughly absurd times.
Freder slammimg the rocket scientists and smearing them as potential murderers when all the problems at Boeing can be traced back to the placement of the woke management crew and their DEI hires.
Seriously, I am to respond to this complete flipping of reality on its head.
But to clarify, I am not smearing the geeky engineers as potential
Freder slammimg the rocket scientists and smearing them as potential murderers when all the problems at Boeing can be traced back to the placement of the woke management crew and their DEI hires.
I am supposed to respond to this flipping of reality on its head?
But to clarify, I am not smearing geeky engineers as potential murderers but management.
DEI and woke at Boeing are getting people killed.
Keep in mind that it isn't the engineers that assemble the planes. After DEI it's the same people that assemble your car.
Freder Frederson:
For all your bitching about DEI, Boeing is in the mess it is in right now because of white men.
There is no dearth of white men in the echelons of DEI.
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