Former Postie Says Post Needs to Rethink its New Strategy
Posted on January 8th, 2009 by postguild
By Tom Grubisich
Knight Digital Media Center
[Editor's note: Tom Grubisich is a former Washington Post reporter and editor]
In her first major statement as publisher of the Washington Post, Katharine Weymouth late last year announced a seemingly Zen-inspired long-term strategy of three pillars. The pillar that caught my attention was the second:“Providing utility, engagement, and convenience for our local readers.”
“Engagement”! Weymouth gets it, I said to myself, the Post is going to build a 21st century community to stay relevant, and financially healthy.
But after reading her whole “The Road Forward” document, I think my optimism may be misplaced.
Weymouth details what the Post will do about utility (”make the paper and washingtonpost.com go-to places for local information”) and convenience (”make it possible for [local consumers] to complete many… transactions on the site”). But nowhere does Weymouth expand on how the Post will promote engagement.
How odd – and disturbing. It’s great that the Post will work ever harder to help its readers and users find movie listings and streamline their shopping. But what, if anything, does it plan to do about helping to turn them into a community that can make the District of Columbia and its suburbs – home to many of them – better places to live? To Read More Other Stories Lawyer Who Defended Post in Pentagon Paper Case Dies (Washington Post)
Filed under: Guild News
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