{"id":16778,"date":"2012-03-09T12:38:43","date_gmt":"2012-03-09T17:38:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yurasko.net\/wfy\/?p=16778"},"modified":"2012-03-09T12:38:43","modified_gmt":"2012-03-09T17:38:43","slug":"vanity-fair-on-the-decline-of-the-washington-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2012\/03\/vanity-fair-on-the-decline-of-the-washington-post\/","title":{"rendered":"Vanity Fair on the decline of The Washington Post"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/business\/2012\/04\/washington-post-watergate\">Ghosts in the Newsroom<\/a> &#8211; <em>Vanity Fair<\/em><br \/>\nA tale of missed opportunities, identity crises and disruptive technology. These challenges are far from limited to T<em>he Post<\/em>, but seem more acute with one of the most important American newspapers. Some excerpts:<\/p>\n<p>Warren Buffet, an significant investor in the paper:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>And, as Buffett sees it, the newspaper\u2019s journalists never understood that fundamental reality. \u201cThe Washington Post is a local newspaper,\u201d Buffett said flatly. \u201cI mean, it has national reach, but the grocers that advertise in it, they\u2019re not going to get national customers. The circulation they\u2019re paying for is the circulation that goes to people in the Greater Washington, D.C., area, and that\u2019s way different than The New York Times. One of the things that\u2019s existed over time which I\u2019m sure you\u2019re aware of is that the newsroom, kindled by what happened in Watergate, liked to think of themselves as national. And they are national in an important respect, but they\u2019re not national as a business. And they don\u2019t have a business model that works nationally. What they do have as a business asset is a large and prosperous local market.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Craigslist has been extremely disruptive to the newspaper business model:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Meanwhile, the Post was facing the same challenge to its business model that every big newspaper did, as advertisers turned away from print. The advent of online services, such as Craigslist, was eroding the Post\u2019s lucrative classified sections, which in the 1990s contributed as much as 40 percent of the paper\u2019s total revenue and today contribute less than half of that.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>On Kaplan, the success of which offset news losses for nearly a decade:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>There was, for a time, a bright spot. In 1984, when presented with the prospect of acquiring a small company called Kaplan Test Prep, Katharine Graham was unenthusiastic. \u201cI confess that my lack of interest was reflected in my saying, \u2018I don\u2019t give a shit about it, but if you think it will be profitable, let\u2019s do it,\u2019 \u201d she wrote in her memoir. Kaplan warranted only a short paragraph, but it came to represent the most promising, and then the most dangerous, business division within the Washington Post Company&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;Then, with little warning, Kaplan\u2019s biggest division, Kaplan Higher Education, became an embarrassment, and its business went through the floor. In 2010, Kaplan was caught in a government sting that revealed the division\u2019s employees pushing students to take on loans even if they couldn\u2019t afford them. That same year, Steve Eisman, the short-seller central to Michael Lewis\u2019s account of the financial crisis, The Big Short, gave a speech called \u201cSubprime Goes to College\u201d that was widely discussed among for-profit executives and investors. Eisman described the for-profit education companies as loan sharks preying on disadvantaged students who would soon find themselves deep in debt.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Oh and the newsroom culture is still conflicted over national and local, digital innovation feel short and the legacy of the past looms over everything.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ghosts in the Newsroom &#8211; Vanity Fair A tale of missed opportunities, identity crises and disruptive technology. These challenges are far from limited to The Post, but seem more acute with one of the most important American newspapers. Some excerpts: Warren Buffet, an significant investor in the paper: And, as Buffett sees it, the newspaper\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,38,96],"tags":[539,1256,1780,1876],"class_list":["post-16778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beltwayland","category-media","category-the-district","tag-dc","tag-newspapers","tag-the-washington-post","tag-vanity-fair"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Vanity Fair on the decline of The Washington Post - William F. Yurasko<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2012\/03\/vanity-fair-on-the-decline-of-the-washington-post\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vanity Fair on the decline of The Washington Post - William F. Yurasko\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ghosts in the Newsroom &#8211; Vanity Fair A tale of missed opportunities, identity crises and disruptive technology. These challenges are far from limited to The Post, but seem more acute with one of the most important American newspapers. Some excerpts: Warren Buffet, an significant investor in the paper: And, as Buffett sees it, the newspaper\u2019s [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2012\/03\/vanity-fair-on-the-decline-of-the-washington-post\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"William F. Yurasko\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-03-09T17:38:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"wfyurasko\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"wfyurasko\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/vanity-fair-on-the-decline-of-the-washington-post\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/vanity-fair-on-the-decline-of-the-washington-post\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"wfyurasko\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ac8cc411e132f659e3520b7aaf758773\"},\"headline\":\"Vanity Fair on the decline of The Washington Post\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-03-09T17:38:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/vanity-fair-on-the-decline-of-the-washington-post\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":514,\"commentCount\":0,\"keywords\":[\"DC\",\"newspapers\",\"The Washington Post\",\"Vanity Fair\"],\"articleSection\":[\"BeltwayLand\",\"Media\",\"The District\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/vanity-fair-on-the-decline-of-the-washington-post\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/vanity-fair-on-the-decline-of-the-washington-post\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/vanity-fair-on-the-decline-of-the-washington-post\\\/\",\"name\":\"Vanity Fair on the decline of The Washington Post - William F. Yurasko\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-03-09T17:38:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ac8cc411e132f659e3520b7aaf758773\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/vanity-fair-on-the-decline-of-the-washington-post\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/vanity-fair-on-the-decline-of-the-washington-post\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/vanity-fair-on-the-decline-of-the-washington-post\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Vanity Fair on the decline of The Washington Post\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/\",\"name\":\"William F. Yurasko\",\"description\":\"Yet another Washingtonian pushing the ubiquitous Nats\\\/DC sports, Penn State, commuting, bicycling, kayaking, broomball, skiing, gin &amp; tonic agenda.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ac8cc411e132f659e3520b7aaf758773\",\"name\":\"wfyurasko\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d848f90a00e30a5618468b70a0cf9639ad6175f078f9417858cef279ef96fe26?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d848f90a00e30a5618468b70a0cf9639ad6175f078f9417858cef279ef96fe26?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d848f90a00e30a5618468b70a0cf9639ad6175f078f9417858cef279ef96fe26?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"wfyurasko\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jus.tia.mybluehost.me\\\/website_3c1e0e40\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yurasko.net\\\/wfy\\\/author\\\/wfyurasko\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Vanity Fair on the decline of The Washington Post - William F. Yurasko","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2012\/03\/vanity-fair-on-the-decline-of-the-washington-post\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Vanity Fair on the decline of The Washington Post - William F. Yurasko","og_description":"Ghosts in the Newsroom &#8211; Vanity Fair A tale of missed opportunities, identity crises and disruptive technology. These challenges are far from limited to The Post, but seem more acute with one of the most important American newspapers. Some excerpts: Warren Buffet, an significant investor in the paper: And, as Buffett sees it, the newspaper\u2019s [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2012\/03\/vanity-fair-on-the-decline-of-the-washington-post\/","og_site_name":"William F. Yurasko","article_published_time":"2012-03-09T17:38:43+00:00","author":"wfyurasko","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"wfyurasko","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2012\/03\/vanity-fair-on-the-decline-of-the-washington-post\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2012\/03\/vanity-fair-on-the-decline-of-the-washington-post\/"},"author":{"name":"wfyurasko","@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/#\/schema\/person\/ac8cc411e132f659e3520b7aaf758773"},"headline":"Vanity Fair on the decline of The Washington Post","datePublished":"2012-03-09T17:38:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2012\/03\/vanity-fair-on-the-decline-of-the-washington-post\/"},"wordCount":514,"commentCount":0,"keywords":["DC","newspapers","The Washington Post","Vanity Fair"],"articleSection":["BeltwayLand","Media","The District"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2012\/03\/vanity-fair-on-the-decline-of-the-washington-post\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2012\/03\/vanity-fair-on-the-decline-of-the-washington-post\/","url":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2012\/03\/vanity-fair-on-the-decline-of-the-washington-post\/","name":"Vanity Fair on the decline of The Washington Post - William F. Yurasko","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-03-09T17:38:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/#\/schema\/person\/ac8cc411e132f659e3520b7aaf758773"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2012\/03\/vanity-fair-on-the-decline-of-the-washington-post\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2012\/03\/vanity-fair-on-the-decline-of-the-washington-post\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2012\/03\/vanity-fair-on-the-decline-of-the-washington-post\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Vanity Fair on the decline of The Washington Post"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/#website","url":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/","name":"William F. Yurasko","description":"Yet another Washingtonian pushing the ubiquitous Nats\/DC sports, Penn State, commuting, bicycling, kayaking, broomball, skiing, gin &amp; tonic agenda.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/#\/schema\/person\/ac8cc411e132f659e3520b7aaf758773","name":"wfyurasko","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d848f90a00e30a5618468b70a0cf9639ad6175f078f9417858cef279ef96fe26?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d848f90a00e30a5618468b70a0cf9639ad6175f078f9417858cef279ef96fe26?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d848f90a00e30a5618468b70a0cf9639ad6175f078f9417858cef279ef96fe26?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"wfyurasko"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/jus.tia.mybluehost.me\/website_3c1e0e40"],"url":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/author\/wfyurasko\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16778\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}