Washington Post Closing New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles Bureaus

by Glynnis MacNicol | 5:48 pm, November 24th, 2009

» 10 comments

washington-post Wow. This is what budget cuts look like in the extreme. The Washington Post has just announced that it will be closing its news bureaus in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, to save costs. Yes, you read that right. Here is the memo sent out to staff (via the Washington City Paper):

To the Staff:

Today we have informed our news colleagues in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles that we are closing the offices in those cities, effective Dec. 31. The reporters in those bureaus are being offered new roles here in Washington. Regretfully, the three news aides, who have been dedicated colleagues and are friends of many here, will be let go.

At a time of limited resources and increased competitive pressure, it’s necessary to concentrate our journalistic firepower on our central mission of covering Washington and the news, trends and ideas that shape both the region and the country’s politics, policies and government.

We will continue to cover events around the country as we have for decades, by sending reporters into the field. We have a strong tradition of bringing understanding and authority to our coverage of politics and issues that matter, wherever the stories take us. The evidence is visible daily in The Post: our deeply reported narrative series on the human consequences of the economic downturn; our insightful coverage of the healthcare debate, from the efficient hallways of the Mayo Clinic to the raucous townhalls of last August; even the ongoing coverage of the Ft. Hood shootings or the impending 2010 midterm campaigns.

Our commitment to national news of interest to our readers is undiminished, and we will maintain the level and caliber of coverage our readers expect.

Marcus
Liz
Raju

We’ve been talking and reading about budget cuts and the resulting layoffs for so long now, and yet this news still comes as a shock. As noted in the memo the paper says it will maintain its commitment to national news but it’s hard to see how with three major bureaus closing. It’s hard not to wonder if at some point the New York Times will be all the news that’s fit to print because it is the only news.

Budget Cuts, Future of Journalism, Marcus Baruchli, Media Cutbacks, WaPo, WaPo cutbacks, Washington Post

http://glassbead.info Magister

I’m having trouble quickly finding the link, but I’m pretty sure that I recently read about a New York Times effort in Chicago(?), where a gaggle of laid-off print reporters would put together a regularly scheduled section for their local market. Of course the Times has national distribution, so I assume it’s a way to boost subscribers in that market, but it also sounds like a backhanded way to underwrite a “bureau”.

And of course there’s always the HuffPo method – Get people to write for free.
MartiniShark

“Here’s our new business model in a word – STRINGERS!”

With the Times moving work down to Florida we may have to rely on The Arizona Republic for serious national coverage pretty soon.
TinaFromTampa

I know I speak for DOZENS of Americans when I say I get everything I need to know from “Fox & Friends.”
If I don’t get it from Steve, Gretchen and the other guy, I don’t need to know it!
JunkJunk

Tina,

You must be talking about the brown-haired guy who’s not Steve Doocy…

;-)
b.j.

Magister,

There’s already a Chicago office, so perhaps using the CNC is a way for them to not overload their current staff, hire new staff, and get local expertise, or some combination of those.
Fidoohki

Brian Killame I think…Sadly I watch Morning Joe. Anyway it’s a sad state of affairs.
ChrisNH

So a bunch of workers at The Post will be out of a job. Now they’ll be able to draw unemployment checks from the wonderful Obama administration that they helped cheer into the White House. The wonderful thing about a high unemployment rate is that it doesn’t care how you voted. There are a TON of ‘Obama lovers’ on the unemployment line now. Which of them are really happy about that and which ones aren’t?
http://www.facebook.com/people/Chuck-Varrick/1170421091 Chuck Varrick

When the NY Slimes and the Washington Post are no more then I will celebrate. Until then I choose to ignore what they say no matter how many times they attempt to lie about it. Our citizenry has finally seen the light with regard to the nonsense they’ve published for years. All the lies, half-truths and embellished stories have finally taken its toll on their companies. The only truth out their today is the truth one finds when doing research on the computer. Don’t rely on one source, rather rely on multiple sources. I love FOX News because I do think they’re more fair and balanced than CBS, NBC or ABC and CNN. Yet FOX does slant its stories from time to time like the others but not as underhanded. I read them all and I think for myself. I trust very few sources yet I try and read as much as humanly possible. This I know, our country is in trouble because we elected an inexperienced US Senator, State Senator, Agitator and Community Organizer to the highest office in the land. He rarely if ever accomplished anything noteworthy. But he was half black the liberal zombies thought because he was half black it counted for something. Electing him has turned out to be a bigger joke than electing Jimmy Carter and yes, George W. Bush. Lets elected a business person next time and not another Lawyer. People listen to me, obama is a failure simply because he was never a winner. You can’t go electing 40 something year old men without experience or you end up with people like Harry Reid and Nancy Piglosi running your country. In a way zombies it was a noble experiment to elect obama but remember the term Caveat emptor next time if there is a next time.
Jim R

I guess it’s safe to say the Post stacking it’s editorial pages with right wing war mongers, or the Times serving as Judith Miller’s vehicle for Iraq WMD lies, repeated on that Sunday by Cheney on the teevee, gained them little traction with the right.

The American people want honest journalism, whether it hurts the right or left; when they get back to that and accept facts have a liberal bias maybe they’ll recoup.
timzank

Econ 101. If people don’t buy your product, it’s because they don’t like it or they don’t need it.

See:
Newsweek
Time
Atlanta Constitution
Wapo
NYT
Chicago Tribune

The list goes on and on.