As the Post struggles, competitors step up
When the Washington Post turned its editorial page into an Ayn Rand fever dream, lost hundreds of thousands of subscribers, and then decided to reduce its coverage of, well, everything, the decisions were brutal for the Washington metropolitan area and the nation — and an opportunity for someone, or someones, positioned to fill the void.
Among the someones: the Washington Sun.
Rachel Maddow began her show Monday night citing several articles from the Sun. I wrote a piece posted Monday that led with reporting by the Sun. When I was reading everything possible about the fabulous Washington Mystics, I routinely turned to the Sun.
If you don’t live around here, it’s possible you haven’t heard of the Sun. The site launched in 2024 as NOTUS — News of the United States — with a focus on national politics and policy. When the Post changed course, laid off a third of its staff, and left a void in the market, NOTUS seized the opportunity. It hired dozens of Post journalists who had jumped ship or been thrown overboard — names that alienated Post readers recognized.
According to Angela Fu at Poynter, “The cuts include the elimination of the sports and books desks in their current form, the restructuring (and reduction) of the metro desk and the closure of several foreign bureaus.”
Fu detailed the damage to the sports section:
In executing the cuts, the Post is taking an ax to its storied sports desk, which has served as a home for famous sportswriters like Shirley Povich, Michael Wilbon, Sally Jenkins, John Feinstein and Kevin Blackistone. [Executive Editor Matt] Murray told staff that some reporters on the desk will be retained on a new team and that the paper would continue covering sports via features.
Sports sections have long honed the ability to attract readers who had already seen the game, something apparently lost on the Post leadership.
Several news organizations have responded to the Post’s retreat, both to entice subscribers and to hire some of the Post’s talent.
The Sun built out its sports and local sections. It licensed Capital Weather, a service that had been a popular staple of the Post as the Capital Weather Gang before splitting off as an independent operation.
The Sun officially launched under its new name Sept. 9. While its newsroom is not huge — just over 100 journalists — it’s a big jump from the 45 with which it started the year.
Whether the Sun can succeed remains to be seen. The last two decades have witnessed many more business losses than wins in the journalism game. But a sustained focus on the community’s news needs — both local and national — would give the Sun an advantage over the Post, with an owner, Jeff Bezos, whose interest in the business seems to have waned as his interest in his government-dependent enterprises has risen.
The Post maintains a substantially larger newsroom, with reportedly 500 journalists after laying off more than 300 in February. It continues to produce some exceptional journalism. But the shift in editorial policy and the layoffs have done enormous damage to its reputation.
In the 1970s, Post Executive Editor Ben Bradlee and owner Katharine Graham displayed what is widely regarded as legendary courage in standing up to the Nixon administration at real risk to the paper during the release of the Pentagon Papers and coverage of the Watergate scandal. Movies got made about it. Perhaps Jeff Bezos, never saw them … or missed the point.
The Wrap: Washington Post Upheaval Redraws the DC Media Map (April 3)
Nieman Lab: With Washington Post Local diminished, other news sites step up their D.C. coverage (March 5)
The New York Times: Politics News Site NOTUS Rebrands as The Washington Sun (Sept. 8)
Mediaite: As the Washington Post Has Been Shrinking a Competitor Rises (Sept. 10)