The continued decline of the Washington Post described on BlueSky

After Bezos squashed the Post’s endorsement of Harris, Post writers pleaded with us online to keep our subscriptions to the Post because they pay for a lot of good writers. It’s a good argument and I kept mine. Now, some Post writers are leaving. I may change my mind since they have changed their view of the Post. Bezos is doing to the Post what Musk did to Twitter.

The other takeaway from what's happening at WaPo is that there are at least 300,000 Americans out there who were paying ~$100 a year or more for a media outlet to hold the powerful accountable. That's a huge, documented audience with enough money to support a new media outlet.
— James Downie (@jamescdownie.bsky.social) 2025-01-06T20:47:13.723Z

Everyone knows the Washingon Post is in turmoil, bleeding subscribers, journalists, reader respect. But if the boss is asking how to attract Trump supporters that means self-respect is eroding too. For me, at least, that's a step further than I thought we were at. http://www.semafor.com/newsletter/0…
— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen.bsky.social) 2025-01-06T15:09:59.660Z

Scoop: Layoffs are slated to hit The Washington Post this week, I'm told. Dozens are expected to be impacted. Details here: http://www.status.news/p/washington…
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy.bsky.social) 2025-01-06T03:17:32.122Z

Replacing this entire crop of reporters is going to be like trying to regrow a mature forest with saplings. The current generation signed up for jobs in accountability journalism, which no longer seems to be Post management’s focus — if that remains true, anyone who can will leave.
— Amanda Katz (@katzish.bsky.social) 2025-01-06T02:25:18.365Z

The problems at WaPo are twofold.First, new publisher Will Lewis is in an untenable position. His first major act as publisher was to mislead (lie?) to the public about the process of the Kamala Harris editorial getting spiked.
— Jonathan V. Last (@jvl.bsky.social) 2025-01-06T00:58:03.848Z

From my story: 300,000 people canceled digital subscriptions to Wash Post between Oct 24, when NPR revealed Bezos’s decision to kill a planned endorsement of VP Harris, and Election Night
— David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik.bsky.social) 2025-01-04T20:01:13.866Z

I could continue to list hundreds of names of great reporters and editors who remain at the Washington Post, and who like me have every intention of staying to see what's around the next corner.
— Sally Jenkins (@sallyjenx.bsky.social) 2025-01-07T18:37:55.024Z

The Washington Post laid off most of their PR team as part of today’s cuts. Comms chief Kathy Baird said in an email to her team that the Post will “stop the dedicated practice of publicity for our journalism across broadcast and traditional media outlets."
— Charlotte Klein (@charlottetklein.bsky.social) 2025-01-07T20:08:19.800Z

More bad CNN coverage

No wonder ratings are down

https://wapo.st/3ZVSVEL

this is how cnn and the rest of the mainstream media advocates for a right wing agenda. by adopting gop framing as "the common sense approach" and then getting democrats to supposedly argue *against* common sense, the entire enterprise is essentially shaped like a fox news segment. its total bs.
— Oliver Willis (@owillis.bsky.social) 2024-12-26T16:01:28.558Z

Why does this story quote long-gone Cillizza? And why does it resort to an anonymous source for the earth-shattering revelation, "Ratings control everything"?At CNN, lower TV ratings and heightened anxieties about what’s ahead http://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/…
— Jeff (Gutenberg Parenthesis) Jarvis (@jeffjarvis.bsky.social) 2024-12-25T13:41:25.379Z

Great thread on bad 2024 headlines

The 2024 Headline of the Year Nominees 🧵
— Paul Fairie (@paulisci.bsky.social) 2024-12-22T18:48:09.729Z

You can tune out the news on TV

I stopped watching TV news about two years. I have no regrets. I did watch a few things like election night coverage and January 6th hearings. I can’t stand Trump and the media is addicted to him. I get news by reading newspaper sites like the New York Times and Washington Post,.

Tuning out legacy media. Many independent media outlets continue to thrive and have seen a spike in growth.
— Marc Elias (@marcelias.bsky.social) 2024-11-24T20:17:25.358Z

"I had to take a peek at our competition today. I turned on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox. It was 24/7 bashing of President Biden for pardoning his son Hunter. It was pathetic," writes @meiselasb.bsky.social.
— MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) 2024-12-03T00:19:40.971Z

I haven’t watched tv news in about 2 years. They’re addicted to Trump.
— Harris Levy (@harrislevy.bsky.social) 2024-12-03T00:43:28.842Z

CNN’s bad tweet

Say racist, not insulting

Donald Trump defended his New York City rally where speakers hurled insulting remarks about Vice President Kamala Harris and Puerto Rico, calling it a "lovefest" https://t.co/6YL6tyvSMc
— CNN (@CNN) October 29, 2024

The Times did too. https://t.co/0gcJ1lUSDP
— Harris Levy (@HarrisL585) October 29, 2024

Comments from Washington Post staff members on their management’s terrible decision not to endorse Harris

Pulitzer Prize-winner David Hoffman's full letter to Post Opinion editor David Shipley, stepping down from the editorial board: "I stand against silence in the face of dictatorship. Here, there, everywhere." pic.twitter.com/C6n4d2w3gE
— Ben Mullin (@BenMullin) October 28, 2024

Editorial board member David Hoffman is also resigning, I'm told. Hoffman accepted the Pulitzer last week for his series on "new technologies and the tactics authoritarian regimes use to repress dissent in the digital age, and how they can be fought." https://t.co/7RELdYFKbN
— Max Tani (@maxwelltani) October 28, 2024

NEW: A member of the Washington Post’s editorial board, Molly Roberts, tells me she has resigned
— Katie Robertson (@katie_robertson) October 28, 2024

"Donald Trump is not yet a dictator. But the quieter we are, the closer he comes — because dictators don't have to order the press to publish cooperatively if it wishes to go on publishing at all. The press knows, and it censors itself." https://t.co/QekvgiJLRa
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) October 28, 2024

https://twitter.com/crampell/status/1850671564083343794?s=43&t=rIYxMSgaBTiASp7yrXMpjA

https://twitter.com/farhip/status/1850606451632312349?s=43&t=rIYxMSgaBTiASp7yrXMpjA

https://twitter.com/michele_norris/status/1850562547612528680?s=43&t=rIYxMSgaBTiASp7yrXMpjA

https://twitter.com/karenattiah/status/1849998911097770349?s=43&t=rIYxMSgaBTiASp7yrXMpjA

Our current owner has emblazoned “Democracy Dies in Darkness” on the front page of every edition of The Washington Post. With this decision, those words now stand as an indictment of ourselves. https://t.co/g4aS43cXvG
— Karen Tumulty (@ktumulty) October 26, 2024

The Baltimore Sun got rid of their features department

Terrible move

New ownership of The Baltimore Sun is living down to expectations. https://t.co/yIVUp71i5T
— Ron Cassie (@ron_cassie) October 28, 2024

The Guild’s stance is simple: if the Baltimore Sun isn’t covering culture, it isn’t covering Baltimore.

Readers outraged by these decisions can submit a pre-written letter to Baltimore Sun owners David Smith and Armstrong Williams: https://t.co/5oD4msgAE1
— Baltimore Sun Guild ☀️ (@baltsunguild) October 28, 2024

You can write the management of the Post about their cowardice

I did. Their actions are disgraceful.

CALL TO ACTION: Since last Friday, when management at the Washington Post ended presidential endorsements, readers have sent thousands of letters condemning the decision.

Help us reach our 10,000 letter goal to ensure management hears us loud and clear:https://t.co/khe8OmHhqF
— Washington-Baltimore News Guild (@WBNG32035) October 28, 2024

Tweets on the cowardly Los Angeles Times refusal to endorse a presidential candidate

When the @latimes makes news, we must cover our institution with the same scrutiny as we would any other. Here's @latguild member @RaineyTime on what's gone on this week at the @latimes: https://t.co/Tj3RqZtMbW
— L.A. Times Guild 🦅 (@latguild) October 26, 2024

Looks like the decision at the LA Times has also infected the news side.

In an open letter, LA Times Staff calls out owner/leadership:

"The L.A.Times, in contrast, has not published a single story as of Friday morning."

via @latguild https://t.co/gssLwjdFa2 pic.twitter.com/UyZmuwp2sM
— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) October 25, 2024

Tonight, two more members of the @latimes editorial board, Robert Greene and Karin Klein, resigned—one day after their boss, editorials editor Mariel Garza, did so. https://t.co/ZVQwweEjP7
— Sewell Chan (@sewellchan) October 25, 2024

https://twitter.com/AmyKinLA/status/1849209551830069654

Meanwhile this Los Angeles Times news report about The Los Angeles Times' owner blocking the paper's endorsement of Kamala Harris and then refuting his daughter's claims about the decision is *wild.*

Rich people are messy AF. https://t.co/O0J7nwL9Sv pic.twitter.com/t8l8uBUr1O
— Jamison Foser (@jamisonfoser) October 26, 2024

Just canceled my subscription, @latimes. WTF is wrong with you?https://t.co/HZyKGcfnwz
— Randi Mayem Singer (@rmayemsinger) October 23, 2024

A statement from Los Angeles Times Guild leadership: pic.twitter.com/yjp1LkSW55
— L.A. Times Guild 🦅 (@latguild) October 24, 2024

https://twitter.com/ccadelago/status/1849957637494104521

Category: News media