Blogs

No One Immune To Newspaper Woes

By Vaughn Ververs

November 15, 2006 / 10:47 AM EST / CBS News

(AP)

Amid all the bad news for the newspaper business recently, the Washington Post has appeared almost to rise above it all. With a vibrant and dynamic Web site attached to a paper doing truly good journalistic work, you could forgive observers for thinking they were weathering the storm better than most. That's why a new memo from executive editor Len Downie has media gazers buzzing this morning with news of some significant changes at the Post. Editor & Publisher got hold of the memo and reports on the new direction:

This includes a plan to "shrink" the newsroom. "tightening up the paper's news hole," cracking down on story length and moving reporters and editors "within and among staffs." The Post is now suffering from regular circulation declines.
Downie called it nothing less than an "opportunity to transform journalism for a new era." He added that it is "the most important change that I will lead as executive editor. It reminds me of my early days in the newsroom, when Ben Bradlee began boldly transforming the paper during the 1960s and 1970s."
In explaining the bold plan, Downie wrote: "We are not just cutting costs. We believe that everything we are doing will make the newspaper stronger and increase readership of the printed paper and washingtonpost.com.
"We are re-directing newsroom staff and resources to our highest priority journalism in print and on the Web....