This morning I spent an hour reading all of the sturm und drang surrounding my former employer: The Washington Post.
In case you haven’t followed the story, the new Post CEO, Will Lewis, pushed out the executive editor, Sally Buzbee, and replaced her with Matt Murray, the former editor of the Wall Street Journal.
At a townhall meeting for employees Monday, Lewis was criticized for the decision. To which he responded with some hard truths:
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. 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.
Oomph. But also not wrong! Lewis had previously announced that the Post had lost $77 million last year and had seen traffic to the site drop by 50%. In the face of those sorts of numbers maintaining the status quo is not a realistic option.
This is the latest in a series of developments that point to a harsh reality: Mainstream media is shrinking — and will continue to shrink.
I offered my take on the Post — and the broader future of media — in today’s edition of “The Morning.”
It’s free for everyone. But I hope you consider becoming a paid subscriber today! Just $6 a month or $60 for the year!
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