🧵Well, Bob, that is clear-eyed, even as I don’t want to accept it, but I do disagree that nothing can be done to stop the demise of all newspapers, with the exception, perhaps, of the New York Times.
There MUST be a sustainable way of publishing a quality newspaper. Maybe SHRINKING the audience and improving the coverage, with paid subscriptions.
I’ve subscribed to the Sunday print editions of The Washington Post & The New York Times for nigh on 25 years now. I began archiving them THEN, because I SENSED bad historical things were going to happen (and they DID, although I hate being correct about that!).
Maybe make the Post INDISPENSABLE, such great reporting it must be read by its hardcore group of news hounds.
I know what’s indispensable to ME: The LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS, LRB.co.uk . I subscribe to print+digital. I know when it’s published: Every two-weeks, on Thursdays, except for holiday breaks. I see how close the mailman gets to delivering my copy by the publication date.
Maybe the LRB has a recipe for success—I don’t know if they make money, I think they at least cover their costs, and I’m an avid & rabid reader. Why? —Because I find the writing exhilarating and indispensable.
Their worldwide printed circulation is about 20,000+ printed copies, according to their figures. THAT’s the kind of club I can belong to.
And Bezos could run the POST as a tax deduction against his other profit making businesses, and maybe shrink the printed circulation but hire MORE correspondents. Make itself INDISPENSABLE !
Oh, how I wish you were wrong. But you're not.
Well, that sure cheered me up.
Not.
But ... yeah.
We're fucked.
🧵Well, Bob, that is clear-eyed, even as I don’t want to accept it, but I do disagree that nothing can be done to stop the demise of all newspapers, with the exception, perhaps, of the New York Times.
There MUST be a sustainable way of publishing a quality newspaper. Maybe SHRINKING the audience and improving the coverage, with paid subscriptions.
I’ve subscribed to the Sunday print editions of The Washington Post & The New York Times for nigh on 25 years now. I began archiving them THEN, because I SENSED bad historical things were going to happen (and they DID, although I hate being correct about that!).
Maybe make the Post INDISPENSABLE, such great reporting it must be read by its hardcore group of news hounds.
I know what’s indispensable to ME: The LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS, LRB.co.uk . I subscribe to print+digital. I know when it’s published: Every two-weeks, on Thursdays, except for holiday breaks. I see how close the mailman gets to delivering my copy by the publication date.
Maybe the LRB has a recipe for success—I don’t know if they make money, I think they at least cover their costs, and I’m an avid & rabid reader. Why? —Because I find the writing exhilarating and indispensable.
Their worldwide printed circulation is about 20,000+ printed copies, according to their figures. THAT’s the kind of club I can belong to.
And Bezos could run the POST as a tax deduction against his other profit making businesses, and maybe shrink the printed circulation but hire MORE correspondents. Make itself INDISPENSABLE !