As the American conversation has become harder to sum up in a single cover, that era seems to be ending. The Washington Post Company announced Wednesday that it would sell Newsweek, raising questions about the future of the newsweekly, first published 77 years ago.
Wow, this comes barely a day after a reader prompted me to look into the drag on WPO's earnings from their declining print media holdings. They may just be going through the motions in looking for a buyer, as a turnaround effort just isn't worth it. I say just shut Newsweek down and write it off as a tax loss. I used to read it as a teenager and remember being very disappointed at the lack of depth in their political and business reporting. Thankfully, I eventually discovered The Economist.
Maybe WPO should also throw in the towel on their namesake daily newspaper and just make it an online political portal. That way they can go head-to-head with The Huffington Post. The WPO ten years hence will look nothing like its historical incarnation. BTW, Berkshire Hathaway was once a textile maker and now does something completely different; its new mission includes part ownership of WPO. Times change.
Full disclosure: No position in WPO at this time.
