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WASHINGTON -- The Washington Post is one of America's great brands, a successful newspaper that dominates a rich metropolitan market. But its circulation is shrinking, and, according to confidential assessments by Post executives, market shifts make it hard to recoup losses.
Memos unveiled as part of a lawsuit show the newspaper losing ground with such key groups as newcomers, young readers, and even well-educated, affluent consumers. In recent years, the paper has watched circulation drop in core parts of the sprawling Washington area, where a burgeoning immigrant community includes many non-English speakers.
The Post has been losing readers since 1993, with circulation falling 8.25% weekdays, to 746,724, and 7.97% Sundays, to 1,048,122. Nationwide, from 1993 to 2001 (the latest figures available), newspaper circulation dipped 7.08% daily and 5.55% Sundays.
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Although Post execs last week declined to say whether the trends persist, the ongoing dips in circulation suggest the difficulties continue. Responses by the paper have included the addition of sections on local news, expanded coverage of growing outlying areas, and extra marketing efforts for the Sunday paper.
Or, maybe it was over that period of time that the mighty Clenis(TM) fried your collective brains.