This is surprising news but for the wrong reasons. The Post is losing serious money. The kind of money that would look like a death spiral at any other company. Layoffs and buyouts have killed...
This is surprising news but for the wrong reasons. The Post is losing serious money. The kind of money that would look like a death spiral at any other company. Layoffs and buyouts have killed morale. More nimble, innovative newsrooms are picking up employees whose unwavering fidelity faltered when they were faced with prospects of their teams being all but eliminated. Local reporting for DC, Maryland, and Virginia has slipped considerably. Their special-interest outfits reporting on topics like video gaming and culture were shuttered. They closed The Lily, which was a shock.
I'm in lockstep with the author of this piece for their impression that WaPo is the least dis-likeable legacy paper. I much prefer them to NYT. However, NYT has been effective at garner subscription revenue through Wirecutter, NYT Cooking, and they've focused efforts on their all-audio news app. The Post is... not doing that.
I don't gather that internal sentiment maintained a particularly deep conviction for Sally Buzbee, but replacing her with a couple of conservative jokers doesn't seem like the move. Management clearly still lacks a vision for what makes a profitable, engaging newsroom in the modern day. The advertising + Facebook play didn't work - the clicks and money dried up. So now what? Evidently, they still don't know.
Kotaku did an article recently about how, in terms of purely where people spend time on the website, NYT is a video game company first that does journalism on the side. But it’s always been like...
I'm in lockstep with the author of this piece for their impression that WaPo is the least dis-likeable legacy paper. I much prefer them to NYT. However, NYT has been effective at garner subscription revenue through Wirecutter, NYT Cooking, and they've focused efforts on their all-audio news app. The Post is... not doing that.
Kotaku did an article recently about how, in terms of purely where people spend time on the website, NYT is a video game company first that does journalism on the side.
But it’s always been like this. The sports section, stock ticker, funny pages, and classifieds are what brought in the money for newspapers. The journalism was just the thing they put that money towards.
Connections fans have a duty to know about Only Connect, in which the Connecting Wall is the 3rd round of every episode. The NYT shamelessy ripped off this game and made Connections. But that's...
Connections fans have a duty to know about Only Connect, in which the Connecting Wall is the 3rd round of every episode. The NYT shamelessy ripped off this game and made Connections. But that's not to say that connections isn't pretty fun!
I considered cutting my NYT subscription this year (after them already giving me a good deal to stay last year). But they gave me an offer for like $4/mo. So I took it. Unfortunately, it doesn't...
I considered cutting my NYT subscription this year (after them already giving me a good deal to stay last year). But they gave me an offer for like $4/mo. So I took it.
Unfortunately, it doesn't include the full version of Spelling Bee ;_;
Spelling Bee, Connections, and Mini Crossword is both how I go to sleep at night and get out of the brain fog in the mornings. I've considered paying the extra $50/yr or whatever for Spelling Bee.
I have a WaPo subscription, too, but their games (and articles) aren't as good IMO.
I also have the $4/month plan and thought that I had the full version of spelling bee. Also, if you contact support every year and threaten to cancel your subscription, they extend the $4/month...
I also have the $4/month plan and thought that I had the full version of spelling bee. Also, if you contact support every year and threaten to cancel your subscription, they extend the $4/month another year.
So I did have the $4mo thing last year, with full access to everything. Because I tried to leave last year; I was getting tired of paying $22/mo or whatever it was. Then I did try to leave again...
So I did have the $4mo thing last year, with full access to everything. Because I tried to leave last year; I was getting tired of paying $22/mo or whatever it was. Then I did try to leave again back in March/April, with the hope of getting that offer again. Which they game me. Except this time, it was a limited plan. Idk if that's a new thing or what, to kinda entice people to pay more. They've definitely been sending me marketing emails for access to their games.
I have enough games to play, so it's not the biggest problem in the world. And I have some other misgivings about NYTimes at times, so I'm hesitant to give them more money. Even if it is the "right" thing to do to support journalism. Kinda how I feel about WaPo, too. I don't read news from WaPo that much, but feel like I have the means to support them, so I should.
If you like the games, it might be worth checking out “Puzzmo” - https://www.puzzmo.com/. They have quite a few daily for free, plus some subscription only games.
Interesting that NYT wants to retain an existing member/customer/reader for $4 a month but won't allow a potential new customer through the door for $4 a month. I have subscriptions to WaPo, The...
Interesting that NYT wants to retain an existing member/customer/reader for $4 a month but won't allow a potential new customer through the door for $4 a month.
I have subscriptions to WaPo, The New Yorker, and Wired. I'd love to get an NYT subscription but with my existing subscriptions, I don't think I'll ever read enough of NYT to justify spending $12 a month. I'd love some sort of "basic" subscription that allows me to read more than my three free articles a month, but it caps me at I don't know, say 30 articles per month for something like $1.99 or $2.99. I'd love to pay to read a few times a month but I just don't need a full subscription.
I believe you can talk to their support chat to cancel for “too expensive” almost immediately. They will treat the initial money you paid them as a credit towards future $4/month charges, so it’s...
I believe you can talk to their support chat to cancel for “too expensive” almost immediately. They will treat the initial money you paid them as a credit towards future $4/month charges, so it’s more like you are prepaying for the first 3 months.
As a DMV local, I am left wondering where to go for journalism that holds local power accountable. WaPo used to. Now they will certainly do so even less. DC government has always been a shit show....
As a DMV local, I am left wondering where to go for journalism that holds local power accountable. WaPo used to. Now they will certainly do so even less.
DC government has always been a shit show. Without journalists to monitor local government, there's not much to keep the corruption in check.
ProPublica, the AP, the NYT even though they have their problems...basically just go through a bunch of ProPublica articles and look at who they partner with. There's certainly quality journalism...
ProPublica, the AP, the NYT even though they have their problems...basically just go through a bunch of ProPublica articles and look at who they partner with. There's certainly quality journalism in other places; it's just difficult to find. And there are foreign sources, many of which do English-language investigative journalism.
To add on to this, it is good to get news from multiple sources and not limit yourself to outlets that are perfectly ideologically aligned to yourself. You should be sceptical of claims, on the...
To add on to this, it is good to get news from multiple sources and not limit yourself to outlets that are perfectly ideologically aligned to yourself. You should be sceptical of claims, on the lookout for biases in the articles and editorial trends, and challenge your own presuppositions and biases.
I consume the NYT, NPR, the Atlantic, and Propublica more or less in that order. I have learned to recognize their individual biases, and I don't agree with everything I get from them. But it provides me a good balance of timely news and in depth pieces to be knowledgeable about what is going on in the world.
I use NYT for everday news, and I like the Atlantic for their long form pieces although by its nature it’s typically not super relevant to what’s going on at the moment.
I use NYT for everday news, and I like the Atlantic for their long form pieces although by its nature it’s typically not super relevant to what’s going on at the moment.
I was an NYT subscriber, but I switched to WaPo earlier this year, after one-too-many articles with an interview with the heritage society, or with an anti-trans tone. Now I’m keeping an eye out...
I was an NYT subscriber, but I switched to WaPo earlier this year, after one-too-many articles with an interview with the heritage society, or with an anti-trans tone.
Now I’m keeping an eye out for other options - @updawg ‘s comment reminded me of a number of good ProPublica pieces that I’ve read in the past few years, though, so I just sent a donation to them.
Propublica is more like the atlantic, they do mostly longer form investigations, so it's not really the same niche. Also, sometimes I feel like they have authors who just really want to force...
Propublica is more like the atlantic, they do mostly longer form investigations, so it's not really the same niche. Also, sometimes I feel like they have authors who just really want to force stories - as an example, their piece on St. Jude, which really, really tried to make it some kind of "expose" but it actually just fell flat (their main argument is that St. Jude says it's free for patients, but they don't pay for PARENT of the patient's housing, which is just... who was expecting them to pay for that and how would be a good use of money?).
Yeah I'm in a very similar boat, I do like ProPublica but I don't think it really hits what I'm looking for for daily news. I have been following the gift article feed on Bluesky, it's sort of an...
Yeah I'm in a very similar boat, I do like ProPublica but I don't think it really hits what I'm looking for for daily news.
I have been following the gift article feed on Bluesky, it's sort of an accidentally curated news feed by picking up all the gift links shared on the network. It's not reliable though. NPR is my other go-to.
I did get a free NYT sub from my work, so I guess I'll use it since no one is paying them for it, but it's frustrating to feel a bit stuck
This made me chuckle, but it also reminded me that I watched the documentary-drama mini-series "The Fake Sheik" a while back. Everyone involved was so morally bankrupt that I really wanted it to...
NEVER trust a British media executive.
This made me chuckle, but it also reminded me that I watched the documentary-drama mini-series "The Fake Sheik" a while back. Everyone involved was so morally bankrupt that I really wanted it to be a work of fiction. What grabs you is not the pacing of the story, but the bull cavorting in a china shop over and over again. Each time you think "this will be the time they stop putting a bull in a china shop," but then they do it again and you wonder where the world went wrong.
In one instance, senior employees said, and I'm only loosely paraphrasing, "we told her to buy the coke from us and she did. That's a crime and we have journalistic protections, so that makes her the criminal. We write stories about criminals." Oh, and they also signed off on an "investigation" of a fabricated kidnapping plot against a celebrity ... and kinda-sorta hired people to maybe do it. But it was just for a story, y'know?
I'm glad that WaPo and NYT aren't that bad, but they need to find a way to make money and convince their readers that quality is worth it. Tabloids have obviously convinced a segment of the population that drama is worth it. There must be something we can do to convince people that real news is worth paying for (and worth treating journalists well).
This felt the best place for the update: Robert Winnett will not join the Post as editor Obviously the CEO/Publisher is still in charge so I don't know how much this could change things but it's...
Post CEO and publisher Will Lewis confirmed that Winnett had withdrawn from the position, relaying the news “with regret” in a note to Post staff. “Rob has my greatest respect and is an incredibly talented editor and journalist,” Lewis wrote. “The leadership at The Telegraph Media Group are reaffirming his continued role as deputy editor.”
The announcement came after days of turmoil at The Post, triggered by the abrupt exit of executive editor Sally Buzbee as well as questions about the past practices of both Winnett and Lewis — veterans of London newsrooms that operate by different rules than their American counterparts.
Obviously the CEO/Publisher is still in charge so I don't know how much this could change things but it's worth noting this as a slight victory for American journalism.
This is surprising news but for the wrong reasons. The Post is losing serious money. The kind of money that would look like a death spiral at any other company. Layoffs and buyouts have killed morale. More nimble, innovative newsrooms are picking up employees whose unwavering fidelity faltered when they were faced with prospects of their teams being all but eliminated. Local reporting for DC, Maryland, and Virginia has slipped considerably. Their special-interest outfits reporting on topics like video gaming and culture were shuttered. They closed The Lily, which was a shock.
I'm in lockstep with the author of this piece for their impression that WaPo is the least dis-likeable legacy paper. I much prefer them to NYT. However, NYT has been effective at garner subscription revenue through Wirecutter, NYT Cooking, and they've focused efforts on their all-audio news app. The Post is... not doing that.
I don't gather that internal sentiment maintained a particularly deep conviction for Sally Buzbee, but replacing her with a couple of conservative jokers doesn't seem like the move. Management clearly still lacks a vision for what makes a profitable, engaging newsroom in the modern day. The advertising + Facebook play didn't work - the clicks and money dried up. So now what? Evidently, they still don't know.
Kotaku did an article recently about how, in terms of purely where people spend time on the website, NYT is a video game company first that does journalism on the side.
But it’s always been like this. The sports section, stock ticker, funny pages, and classifieds are what brought in the money for newspapers. The journalism was just the thing they put that money towards.
Craigslist, eBay, Facebook marketplace killed classified ads
Wordle and Crossword puzzles are keeping NYT afloat :D
This is Connections erasure.
Connections fans have a duty to know about Only Connect, in which the Connecting Wall is the 3rd round of every episode. The NYT shamelessy ripped off this game and made Connections. But that's not to say that connections isn't pretty fun!
I considered cutting my NYT subscription this year (after them already giving me a good deal to stay last year). But they gave me an offer for like $4/mo. So I took it.
Unfortunately, it doesn't include the full version of Spelling Bee ;_;
Spelling Bee, Connections, and Mini Crossword is both how I go to sleep at night and get out of the brain fog in the mornings. I've considered paying the extra $50/yr or whatever for Spelling Bee.
I have a WaPo subscription, too, but their games (and articles) aren't as good IMO.
I also have the $4/month plan and thought that I had the full version of spelling bee. Also, if you contact support every year and threaten to cancel your subscription, they extend the $4/month another year.
So I did have the $4mo thing last year, with full access to everything. Because I tried to leave last year; I was getting tired of paying $22/mo or whatever it was. Then I did try to leave again back in March/April, with the hope of getting that offer again. Which they game me. Except this time, it was a limited plan. Idk if that's a new thing or what, to kinda entice people to pay more. They've definitely been sending me marketing emails for access to their games.
I have enough games to play, so it's not the biggest problem in the world. And I have some other misgivings about NYTimes at times, so I'm hesitant to give them more money. Even if it is the "right" thing to do to support journalism. Kinda how I feel about WaPo, too. I don't read news from WaPo that much, but feel like I have the means to support them, so I should.
If you like the games, it might be worth checking out “Puzzmo” - https://www.puzzmo.com/.
They have quite a few daily for free, plus some subscription only games.
Interesting that NYT wants to retain an existing member/customer/reader for $4 a month but won't allow a potential new customer through the door for $4 a month.
I have subscriptions to WaPo, The New Yorker, and Wired. I'd love to get an NYT subscription but with my existing subscriptions, I don't think I'll ever read enough of NYT to justify spending $12 a month. I'd love some sort of "basic" subscription that allows me to read more than my three free articles a month, but it caps me at I don't know, say 30 articles per month for something like $1.99 or $2.99. I'd love to pay to read a few times a month but I just don't need a full subscription.
I believe you can talk to their support chat to cancel for “too expensive” almost immediately. They will treat the initial money you paid them as a credit towards future $4/month charges, so it’s more like you are prepaying for the first 3 months.
I get 52/yr deals all the time. As another comment said, you can sign up during a rpomo and negotiate.
The your in "Your audience has halved in recent years. People are not reading your stuff" is interesting and probably a sign of bad management.
As a DMV local, I am left wondering where to go for journalism that holds local power accountable. WaPo used to. Now they will certainly do so even less.
DC government has always been a shit show. Without journalists to monitor local government, there's not much to keep the corruption in check.
This is sad, ominous news indeed.
Actual question:
Where else do we get quality journalism?
ProPublica, the AP, the NYT even though they have their problems...basically just go through a bunch of ProPublica articles and look at who they partner with. There's certainly quality journalism in other places; it's just difficult to find. And there are foreign sources, many of which do English-language investigative journalism.
To add on to this, it is good to get news from multiple sources and not limit yourself to outlets that are perfectly ideologically aligned to yourself. You should be sceptical of claims, on the lookout for biases in the articles and editorial trends, and challenge your own presuppositions and biases.
I consume the NYT, NPR, the Atlantic, and Propublica more or less in that order. I have learned to recognize their individual biases, and I don't agree with everything I get from them. But it provides me a good balance of timely news and in depth pieces to be knowledgeable about what is going on in the world.
I use NYT for everday news, and I like the Atlantic for their long form pieces although by its nature it’s typically not super relevant to what’s going on at the moment.
I was an NYT subscriber, but I switched to WaPo earlier this year, after one-too-many articles with an interview with the heritage society, or with an anti-trans tone.
Now I’m keeping an eye out for other options - @updawg ‘s comment reminded me of a number of good ProPublica pieces that I’ve read in the past few years, though, so I just sent a donation to them.
Edit: proper capitalization of ProPublica
Propublica is more like the atlantic, they do mostly longer form investigations, so it's not really the same niche. Also, sometimes I feel like they have authors who just really want to force stories - as an example, their piece on St. Jude, which really, really tried to make it some kind of "expose" but it actually just fell flat (their main argument is that St. Jude says it's free for patients, but they don't pay for PARENT of the patient's housing, which is just... who was expecting them to pay for that and how would be a good use of money?).
Yeah I'm in a very similar boat, I do like ProPublica but I don't think it really hits what I'm looking for for daily news.
I have been following the gift article feed on Bluesky, it's sort of an accidentally curated news feed by picking up all the gift links shared on the network. It's not reliable though. NPR is my other go-to.
I did get a free NYT sub from my work, so I guess I'll use it since no one is paying them for it, but it's frustrating to feel a bit stuck
The Boston globe is pretty good I think
This made me chuckle, but it also reminded me that I watched the documentary-drama mini-series "The Fake Sheik" a while back. Everyone involved was so morally bankrupt that I really wanted it to be a work of fiction. What grabs you is not the pacing of the story, but the bull cavorting in a china shop over and over again. Each time you think "this will be the time they stop putting a bull in a china shop," but then they do it again and you wonder where the world went wrong.
In one instance, senior employees said, and I'm only loosely paraphrasing, "we told her to buy the coke from us and she did. That's a crime and we have journalistic protections, so that makes her the criminal. We write stories about criminals." Oh, and they also signed off on an "investigation" of a fabricated kidnapping plot against a celebrity ... and kinda-sorta hired people to maybe do it. But it was just for a story, y'know?
Anyway, one of the tabloids that guy worked for was also involved in the phone hacking of the British royal family as well as getting into voicemails and personal info of murdered children and a British soldier killed in combat. So some really top-notch journalism going on.
I'm glad that WaPo and NYT aren't that bad, but they need to find a way to make money and convince their readers that quality is worth it. Tabloids have obviously convinced a segment of the population that drama is worth it. There must be something we can do to convince people that real news is worth paying for (and worth treating journalists well).
This felt the best place for the update:
Robert Winnett will not join the Post as editor
Obviously the CEO/Publisher is still in charge so I don't know how much this could change things but it's worth noting this as a slight victory for American journalism.
The only way I'd trust WaPo ever again is if Bezos was not the owner.