Post by DFW HOYA on Nov 19, 2010 9:44:21 GMT -5
Another marker in the continuing decline of print media, as Michael Wilbon leaves the WPost after 32 years.
The Post spins it as his opportunity to pursue TV interests at the Worldwide Leader, but it's just as likely as he is given the opportunity to leave on his own terms rather than, as so many other journalists have found out the hard way, fail to make the budget cut. Full time columnists (and even full time writers) may be a endangered species in journalism in a few years.
Wilbon joined the Post in 1979, when names like Shirley Povich and Andy Beyer were still on the first string, entering a decade where names like Bill Gildea, Dave Kindred, Ken Denlinger, David Dupree, John Ed Bradley, and Tom Boswell covered the local teams as well as anyone. The youngsters such as Wilbon, Kornheiser and Feinstein, were just getting their feet wet.
Like every other daily, the Post is in steady decline. Its daily circulation (approx. 540,000 copies in a metro area of 5 million) has dropped by an average of 7-10% a year and while not as dire as the Washington Times (which recently reported its paid circulation at only 28,753 copies a day, or about three times the distribution numbers of The HOYA), the Post no longer competes as a national newspaper. How many of us still receive a daily newspaper at home? And that's not likely to grow in the coming years, either.
Wilbon was the Hoyas' beat writer for a couple of years but has written often on the team. He'll be missed.
voices.washingtonpost.com/early-lead/2010/11/michael_wilbon_is_leaving_the.html
The Post spins it as his opportunity to pursue TV interests at the Worldwide Leader, but it's just as likely as he is given the opportunity to leave on his own terms rather than, as so many other journalists have found out the hard way, fail to make the budget cut. Full time columnists (and even full time writers) may be a endangered species in journalism in a few years.
Wilbon joined the Post in 1979, when names like Shirley Povich and Andy Beyer were still on the first string, entering a decade where names like Bill Gildea, Dave Kindred, Ken Denlinger, David Dupree, John Ed Bradley, and Tom Boswell covered the local teams as well as anyone. The youngsters such as Wilbon, Kornheiser and Feinstein, were just getting their feet wet.
Like every other daily, the Post is in steady decline. Its daily circulation (approx. 540,000 copies in a metro area of 5 million) has dropped by an average of 7-10% a year and while not as dire as the Washington Times (which recently reported its paid circulation at only 28,753 copies a day, or about three times the distribution numbers of The HOYA), the Post no longer competes as a national newspaper. How many of us still receive a daily newspaper at home? And that's not likely to grow in the coming years, either.
Wilbon was the Hoyas' beat writer for a couple of years but has written often on the team. He'll be missed.
voices.washingtonpost.com/early-lead/2010/11/michael_wilbon_is_leaving_the.html
?