Is The Washington Put up in full-scale collapse? A latest take a look at the numbers offers a reasonably convincing reply to that query.
In accordance with the report, not solely is the Put up shedding $100 million a 12 months, however it misplaced over half of its on-line engagement by the tip of 2023. The indicators have been already there by mid-year, and the worst has come to go.
That is from Bonchie, “The Washington Put up Is in Full-Scale Collapse,” RedState, January 5, 2024.
Bonchie goes on to put in writing:
Having a billionaire sugar daddy [Jeff Bezos] has helped masks among the points plaguing the Put up, however the tide can solely be held again so lengthy. To lose over 50 % of its on-line viewership is catastrophic for an outlet with such excessive overhead prices. Subscriber numbers have additionally nosedived all through the Biden administration.
I’m reminded of my favourite scene from considered one of my favourite motion pictures, Citizen Kane. I really discovered a supply a long time in the past, approach earlier than the online, that had the dialogue printed out and it was on my cork board at work for many years. It’s an attractive train in numeracy.
Right here’s the dialogue:
Walter Parks Thatcher (Charles Kane’s authorized guardian): Don’t you assume it’s moderately unwise to proceed this philanthropic enterprise, this Inquirer that’s costing you 1,000,000 {dollars} a 12 months?
Charles Foster Kane: You’re proper, Mr. Thatcher. I did lose 1,000,000 {dollars} final 12 months. I anticipate to lose 1,000,000 {dollars} this 12 months. I anticipate to lose 1,000,000 {dollars} subsequent 12 months. You realize, Mr. Thatcher, on the charge of 1,000,000 {dollars} a 12 months, I’ll have to shut this place in [pause] 60 years.
Let’s say that Bezos’s losses rise to $200 million a 12 months and keep there. His internet price in 2022 was $167 billion. So if he makes solely a 1% return on his property, that’s $1.67 billion a 12 months. At that charge, he’ll have to shut the Washington Put up in– by no means.
There’s one different huge distinction in addition to the truth that for Bezos it’s rounding error and for Citizen Kane it wasn’t. I believe I can determine from the film what Citizen Kane’s motivation was for working the Inquirer the best way he did. I’ve by no means had a clue about what Jeff Bezos’s motivation is in proudly owning the Washington Put up.