‘THE POST’
The ‘Land of liberty’s very own capital daily, which has been in existence for the past 144 legendary years, changing hands under multiple ownerships has been standing tall and relevant in the print industry since its inception. This article is All About the Washington Post.
The newspaper was founded in 1877 by Stilson Hutchins and since then ‘The post’ has been breaking news for years. It is an American daily newspaper published in Washington DC and it is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area. It is one of the leading American newspapers along with the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Wall Street journal.
For those unaware of the notable newspaper, ‘The post’ is what brought Nixon down – ‘ The best-known episode in the newspaper’s history led the American president’s investigation into what became known as the ‘Watergate scandal’ which resulted in the 1974 resignation of president Richard Nixon.’
To jog your memory further, the newspaper has also been in news for certain controversies and happy incidences such as – During Wilson presidency, the post intended to report that President Wilson had been ‘Entertaining’ his wife Mrs. Galt, but instead wrote that he had been ‘Entering’ Mrs. Galt.
Or for that matter, happy incidences include the discovery of the famous toy ‘Teddy bear’, Mr. Clifford Berryman published a famous cartoon in the post, which depicted then-President Theodore Roosevelt showing compassion towards a baby bear cub which inspired the New York store owner to create a teddy bear.
The post has been in heavy circulation for years successfully, but for the last few years before its acquisition, its financial figures and shrinking circulation had become a cause for concern, the numbers were dwindling rapidly and it had become important to revive its health and reputation.
THE END OF AN ERA
As The Post’s figures started progressively declining, it was felt necessary to restore its health and ownership. A retrenchment strategy was the post’s last chance to survive. The sale of ‘The post’ was announced in early August 2013. It did not come as a surprise to the people of America as already many big newspaper business families were made to sell at the time. The post was owned by the Graham family for 8 decades, they were around for so long that everyone assumed the Grahams would own the post forever, this move marked the end of an era for the post.
The Washington Post was sold off to the famous tech CEO Jeff Bezos for a deal of $250mn by the Graham family. After careful considerations and several negotiations, the Grahams were successful in convincing Bezos to come on board with the idea of how the post could survive under him. Given the ever-changing technological scenario and threats to print media, Bezos being a tech genius was just the man for the job.
Technology is a make-or-break element for businesses, it has the inherent capacity of either flourishing business leaps and bounds or taking it down and making it completely irrelevant in no time. And for the print industry, technology is certainly no friend. With Jeff Bezos in the picture, the Grahams were assured of the post being in good hands and of its survival, and that he would make the post into a more tech-focused organization.
At the time, many other billionaires had already jumped into print business such as the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, the Boston globe, and so on and so forth. These papers have been changing hands and have followed similar patterns as the Washington Post.
‘THE POST’ UNDER BEZOZ
INITIAL CONSIDERATIONS
Bezos during the initial meetings with Donald Graham (son of Katharine Graham, the lead publisher), did not promptly agree to the proposition right away. He turned down the offer a few times due to the contemplation of the fact that he had no experience in the print industry or newspaper business for that matter, and was not sure about the proposition entirely. But he eventually, came on board due to certain insights presented by the Grahams and a few of his own introspections. The Grahams helped him in his decision-making by showing a larger picture saying that ‘It was not the newspaper expertise they were looking for but mastery of internet’ which would make Bezos is a promising buyer.
Jeff’s perspective about the newspaper helped him draw his attention closer to the deal, he says – The Washington post being the official newspaper in the capital city of the most important country in the world was a really big deal for somebody to help it stay afloat. Also, the Washington post’s newsgathering capability around the area is what turned him on to the deal and he saw this as an ultimate challenge and decided to join hands with the Grahams.
THE TRANSFORMATION
For acquisition purposes, Bezos set up a holding company called ‘Nash Holdings’, which included the Washington Post and which is operated separately from the technology company Amazon. He bought the post with his own funds rather than making a deal through Amazon or as a strategy to diversify. ‘The post’ is identified separately and stands independent in relation to any other operations. Nash Holdings was kept completely disassociated from the tech company by all means.
Bezos appointed Fred Ryan (founder and CEO of Politico) to serve as publisher and CEO of The Post and it was decided to keep the management unchanged.
In September 2017, under the leadership of Ryan-Bezos, The Post crossed the one million mark for paid digital online subscribers, and the number as of today has increased to over 1.5 million subscribers.
Bezos’s intention was to shift The Post to a national and global readership unlike restricting it to its previous geographical boundaries with limited readership in focus.
Washington Post’s geographical readership graph which was concentrated to the areas of Washington metropolitan area-Virginia-Maryland was now dragged to the entire 50 states.
He thought that technology and the internet were a threat to the print industry. But the internet offers one huge advantage, that is, a free global distribution which overshadows all its disadvantages. And thus rather than branding technology and the internet as a disadvantage, it could be utilized to the best advantage of the organization by breaking geographical barriers and reaching out to larger global demography by providing informative daily and catering rightful and correct information to the masses.
Under Bezos, the post had instantly revitalized the growth and financials of the business. Within 3 years of acquisition, the paper had doubled its web traffic and became profitable.
For wider distribution of content and increased readership, the strategists resorted to ideas such as subsidized membership plan for amazon prime users and installation of the application on amazon fire tablets among many other ideas.
THE FUTURE OF THE NEWSPAPER
This is a new era at the Washington Post, the Grahams who owned The Post for four generations, have now passed on the legacy to a man whose tech brilliance is simply unquestionable. And everyone who cares about the news is watching The Post closely as its transformation directly or indirectly has a bearing on the entire print industry, given, The Post is in the hands of somebody whose digital acumen is second to none, and can turn the newspaper into a valuable commodity as he has the resources and capability that can help resolve the delicate issues regarding its existence in the years to come.
The basic idea behind Graham’s taking the proposal to Bezos was because unlike the New York times the Washington Post would not struggle to go online as Jeff is accommodating to the online business framework and The Post eventually wouldn’t sink under his reign.
The Grahams were certain of the fact that he would both preserve the culture of The Post and bring his business acumen to the table to keep the business from going down. Bezos assures recommitment to great journalism and investigative reporting which was a part of the company norm since the beginning and Bezos intending to continue the same.
As the readership of the newspaper is going online, Bezos proposes to introduce reader-friendly smart tablets that have potential future down the line, this move could save the company from losing customer readership and decline in revenues.
CONCLUSION
Contrary to popular belief, Bezos is not completely against the idea of physical newspaper distribution in fact he seconds the idea of NEWS ‘PAPERS’ rather than catering news digitally. As of now, the sales are partly digital and partly physical. The physical newspapers have not been completely eliminated, as also for the fact that 1/5th of the total revenue is earned through physical newspaper readership.
With the sale of a legendary newspaper to an internet legend, the globe anticipates a revolution in the print industry under the Bezos world. Nobody knows what will be the future of news but everybody sure hopes for better than before, factual, informative, and bias-free news across the globe.