Headline (today's WaPo, p. A10): "Post Co. returns to profit"
Buried inside: "The Post Co.'s newspaper division, which is dominated by the flagship newspaper, lost $13.8 million in the first quarter, compared with a loss of $53.8 million in the year-ago period...First-quarter daily circulation of The Post dropped 12.5 percent, and Sunday circulation dropped 10.4 percent." (emphasis added)
Notes:
1) If I were publishing this news in my own dying paper, I might bury such unpleasant facts below a rosy headline, too.
2) The Post was once a proud, center-left investigative newspaper of record. Under the present publisher (Weymouth) and editors (Brauchli and Hiatt), it has morphed into a neo-con imitation -- even down to the typeface -- of the Wall Street Journal (Brauchli's old rag). This, in one of the most "blue" regions of the country with one flaming-out Rethug organ already (the Moonie Times), should be considered business model malpractice as well as a betrayal of the Post's tradition and pedigree.
3) If the "SS Post" were my "flagship," I'd re-christen it the "SS Toast" and abandon ship!
(Image: Weymouth, Brauchli, and Hiatt in no particular order)
