Washington Post is on its way out the door

I like what Brad Delong has to say about the Washington Post.


I was able to pick up a free copy on my way out the door of my apartment complex and read it on the train. After two weeks of reading it from cover to cover I stopped picking it up and paid a subscription to the Wall Street Journal instead. That's right. My demand for Washington Post newspapers at a price that is zero is also zero, not nonzero like a downward-sloping demand curve would normally suggest!

I had a college friend come stay at my apartment with me and my girlfriend during the "trial period" previously alluded to. After reading only a page or two she puts the paper down, folds it, and says to me, "are all the articles this liberal or is it just the Sunday paper?" I laughed and agreed with her sentiment. (We both graduated with BAs in Economics and went on to graduate studies in Econ, so we're probably center-right).

Now, the only thing WaPo is good for are manufacturer's coupons in the Sunday edition (the paper goes unread back to the community pile). Only because when I show them to my girlfriend, her face lights up like a light (she loves saving money as much as I do-I'm a notorious miser; I pick up change everywhere).

What do you get when you combine an entire staff of writers with sophomoric ability and left-wing policy stances? Reduced readership and declining advertising.

JDW