Actually, the entire Washington Post has changed. The layoffs and early retirement packages have really taken their toll on the quality of both the Post and Newsweek (owned by the same folks).
Like many Americans, the first part of the paper that I go for is the sports page. The sports page is not what it once was. Not 20 years ago, but 2 years ago.
I liked the Post because it had been a global newspaper force. Read around the world. One of the great voices of America.
I believe in newspapers and printed materials. Even though I write a blog and run two tech companies, I love newspapers, books and magazines.
There have been innumerable times that I have really learned something from a story that I read just because it was printed on the page. I was not interested, but there it was and I already bought the newspaper.
I find that using Al Gore’s fabulous interweb you receive much more targeted results and less depth. The chances of learning something by accident has dropped sharply.
A long time ago, I lived outside the city and received the local rag and the Washington Post. The local paper had a sports section with the wire stories, scores of the major leagues and a little bit of journalism.
I read the Post from front to back. It was journalism. It had depth. The sports page had writers with panache and were polished. It explained sports. Hit the high notes of the 4 questions. Not the 4 questions from Passover (why is this night different…) but rather the 4 questions of journalism.
Lets start with who, what, where and when? You could also add the very important why or why not.
Well these days, the Post sports page makes the Fisher-Price, kiddie toy, news of the USAToday look like Shakespeare. All that is left of the once great sports section is a column or two from the still fantastic Thomas Boswell or the very observant Mike Wise.
It is clear to me that Michael Wilbon has jumped the shark. Sally Jenkins is disengaged from the DC sports scene as is Wilbon.
The depth of coverage for my beloved Maryland Terps has dwindled to nothing. Even the coverage of the vaunted Redskins is diminished.
In closing, the Post which claims it lost readers to the Internet now mainly offers the same scores and wire reported that you can get anywhere, anytime on the Interweb.