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Washington Post Shows That The Newspaper Business Isn't Doomed

from the doing-okay dept

Fri, Jul 27th 2007 10:11am — Mike Masnick

While many in the newspaper business are whining about the struggles some newspapers face, a few in the actual newspaper business are actually adapting and thriving. A detailed article in Fortune takes a look at how the Washington Post has thrived, while its competitors have struggled. The keys aren't too surprising: diversify away from just news, embrace new outlets for news and invest in unique investigative reporting skills. There are still plenty of questions, but it becomes clear very quickly that the Washington Post knows that it's future is quite different than it's past -- and it's not going to wait around to find out how things play out. Instead, it wants to drive news innovations forward, while others complain that nothing can be done.

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Filed Under: newspapers
Companies: washington post

8 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 27 Jul 2007 @ 11:55am

Well at least there is SOME good news in the world.
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Palmyra, 27 Jul 2007 @ 12:03pm

The Post
The key, as is said above, is that the Post is an organization that has a staff of high quality writers/reporters and you get it all for 35 cents. The paper does not rely on the AP and or Reuters to write its articles. The website is just as good as the paper, which is another plus.

Papers who do not have their own writers should fail.
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Jooba, 27 Jul 2007 @ 12:52pm

No longer a Monopoly
The real deal why the news is crying, is they now have FREE competition. Your only source to news is no longer through paying for whatever paper you like. There losing money, an i'm happy about it. Welcome to the world of technology, an thank you C.E.R.N. for creating the internet.
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- Palmyra, 27 Jul 2007 @ 12:54pm
  
  Re: No longer a Monopoly
  That should be "an thank you C.E.R.N. for creating the World Wide Web," my friend.
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  - R Greenwell, 27 Jul 2007 @ 1:56pm
    
    Re: Re: No longer a Monopoly
    A monopoly is when one entity controls everything. Newspapers are individually owned and operated.
    
    And while I'm at it, where do you think that "free content" that's on the web is coming from? Hint: Newspapers. Probably 90% of the actual news that you're reading on the web comes from local reporters at Associated Press member papers. When those newspapers fail, those reporters go away. Pretty soon, you'll get all of your "news" from the NFL, Proctor & Gamble and the White House's PR people.
    
    Maybe that's what you meant about monopoly.
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Paul, 27 Jul 2007 @ 11:40pm

Grammar
Say Mike, What's wrong with this clause?
"...the Washington Post knows that it's future is quite different than it's past -- and it's not going to wait around..."

Sorry, I couldn't resist. But it does show that I read what you write, and I have been for quite some time. Keep up the critical thinking.
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Jul 2007 @ 8:32am

The internet was invented and built by DARPA : not by CERN. Tim Berners-Lee, a British citizen, created the WWW (by developing a tagging language we know as html)while working at CERN.

And three cheers to the Washington Post for succeeding where others fail !
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Kiki Jones, 3 Jan 2008 @ 5:49pm

Local Advertising
Shouldn't we thank the guy who thought of the hyperlink first? Yikes! Whatever you do-- don't google hyperlink inventor-- you'll sooner find the first guy to use flint.
The Post is perceived to be very authoritative nationally but they have pretty limited resources. Newspapers are consistent-- they keep showing up and they try to get it right. That accountability creates the authority. The Post is actually a new kind of boutique information service with a broad geographic audience for specific kinds of information. They thrive while hundreds of local sources die in the breathless vacuum of empty reader space.
BUT... If we get to the point where only 10 or 12 news bureaus survive, will they be able to cover the news? Will there be any authoritative writing left in their corporate context? Local advertising for local papers used to keep the local writing viable, but who wants to opt for a second rate information source? I think we'll sooner figure out which flint bearing caveman invented the hyperlink than we'll figure out how to finance well distributed sources of consistently authoritative news.
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