Photo credit: Eddie Welker (Flickr)
Washington, D.C., has 41 print publications (including newspapers and magazines) varying in circulation, focus, political leaning and days of distribution. The print media is defined as locally headquartered news organizations with a heavy focus on District related news. The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Washington Examiner and the Express account for over 60 percent of the total circulation in the area.1 By this study’s estimations, print media in D.C. are served by at least 1,593 journalists.2
The Washington Post is one of the oldest and most widely read print media in the D.C. area. Despite its national reputation, it is primarily distributed in the Washington metropolitan region. Founded in 1877, the paper is part of The Washington Post Company, which holds a diversified portfolio of media and education properties. Among these are The Washington Post News Service with Bloomberg news, Newsweek (up for sale at the time of this report’s publication), The Washington Post Writers Group, Fashion Washington (FW), Express, El Tiempo Latino, The Daily Herald (in Washington state), Post-Newsweek Media, Kaplan and the Slate Group. The Post can also be found online, as will be discussed later. Most recently, the company acquired iCurrent, an online tool that allows readers to create specialized news feeds according to their interests.3
The Washington Post news and editorial department employs 784 journalists.4 However in 2003, The Post went through a period of buyouts in which hundreds of staffers left the paper.5 During the fourth quarter of 2009, the business unit of the Washington Post Company returned to profitability for the first time in two years earning $82.2 million.
The Post’s paid circulation is approximately 583,383 for its daily papers.6 This places The Post as one of the most widely read newspapers in the nation. It also publishes a weekly Sunday magazine (in print and online) with exclusive content not included in the daily. Its Sunday circulation reaches 785,136 people, placing it third behind only The LA Times and The Chicago Tribune.7 The median age for a Post reader is 51 years old, and the median household income is $110,133. Nearly fifty-one percent of its audience are college graduates or possess a higher degree and more than 45 percent hold managerial or management positions.8
The paper’s editorial priority leans towards national and political news, but is also a key source of regional and local stories about the Washington area. Its headquarters is located in downtown Washington, D.C., but the paper staffs 11 bureaus in the Virginia and Maryland area and 14 international bureaus.9 Its daily coverage also includes arts and entertainment, style, sports, business, jobs, science, weather and other subjects of interest to the surrounding areas of Maryland and Virginia. Its Metro section section (available online at a new landing page, PostLocal, which will be discussed later) attempts to capture a wide range of local topics including elections, crime reports and community events. The op-ed and commentary section, while featuring nationally syndicated columnists, also features local viewpoints of national topics. The Post launched a stand-alone site, LoudonExtra.com, covering news in Loudon County, Virginia, but this experiment was terminated in August 2009.10
The city’s other metro daily is The Washington Times, which was established in 1982 by the New Word Communications, a wing of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church. The Times has maintained that the Unification Church does not influence its editorial side. The paper is distributed daily and has a paid circulation of 65,814.11 Its coverage includes international, national, regional and local news. Specifically, the paper focuses on political and policy-related news. The Times also features a community and D.C. local section online that covers events, health, opinions, and other topics of immediate local interest.
The Times is considered to be the more conservative alternative to The Washington Post. In 2009, The New York Times observed, “With its conservative editorial bent, the paper also became a crucial training ground for many rising conservative journalists and a must-read for those in the movement. A veritable who’s who of conservatives — Tony Blankley, Frank J. Gaffney Jr., Larry Kudlow, John Podhoretz and Tony Snow — has churned out copy for its pages.”12
Of late, the financial state of The Times has garnered much attention. In January 2010, it was reported by U.S. News & World Report that The Times had released close to 60 percent of its already shrinking 160 editorial staff and almost 70 percent of the business and support staff; the Metro and Sports sections were cut entirely as stand-alone sections.13 The Washington Post recently reported that The Times is up for sale after the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's family cut off most of the annual subsidy of about $35 million that has kept the Unification Church-backed paper afloat.14
In addition to the city’s two major papers, two more daily newspapers are also distributed free of charge across the metro area. The Washington Examiner is a free daily newspaper distributed throughout D.C., Alexandria, VA, and Baltimore. It is privately owned by Philip Anschutz, a businessman from Denver, Colorado.15 Its reported print circulation is approximately 281,452.16 Home deliveries are made on Thursday and Sunday while street versions are available from Monday through Friday. Congress receives the paper throughout the five-day business week. The paper relies solely on its advertising revenue to maintain operations.
Its editorial focus includes national, international and regional news. The print local coverage, which constitutes most of the paper’s original reporting, features municipal and neighborhood related news. The Examiner is known for its conservative political lean. In 2009, Politico highlighted the paper’s conservative staff, which included chief political correspondent Byron York (National Review), senior political analyst Michael Barone (American Enterprise Institute, Fox News) and investigative reporter David Freddoso (National Review, author of The Case Against Barack Obama).17
The Washington Express (known as The Express) is a free daily tabloid distributed throughout D.C. It is owned by the Washington Post Company and is financially supported by advertising. Its daily circulation reaches 183,916.18 Like The Examiner, The Express is handed out by distributors at the majority of Metrorail stations from approximately 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. It is also available in over 1,900 rack locations at Metro, health clubs, restaurants, apartment buildings and college campuses, as well as urban neighborhood locations. Its editorial focus includes local, regional, national and international news. Much of its international and national content are repurposed from AP, Getty Images and other wire sources. Readers of The Express are 53 percent men and 47 percent women. Approximately 83 percent are employed, with 67 percent having attended college. Forty-three percent of readers average a household income of over $100,000.19
In addition to these, the District of Columbia is home to several neighborhood specific, ethnic-focused or special interest print newspapers. For example, Roll Call, published by CQ-Roll Call Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Economist Group, focuses heavily on covering Congress. It is distributed daily with 11,500 copies of the paper hand-delivered to the House and Senate.20
Politico’s print publication is produced Monday through Friday when Congress is in session and exclusively on Tuesday when in recess. The paper is owned by Allbritton Communications, which also owns local television stations WJLA and News Channel 8 (soon to become TBD TV, as will be discussed below) and radio station WTOP-FM. Its daily print circulation is 33,700 and reaches members of Congress, the White House and hundreds of influential policy makers throughout the D.C. area.21
Beyond its editorial clout, Politico is often revered for its economic success despite the industry’s struggle to keep afloat.
Its offices are located in Arlington, VA, but its focus is on political news, often centered on events occurring in the White House and around Capitol Hill.The staff includes approximately 75 journalists with eight reporters dedicated specifically to White House-related news.22
Beyond its editorial clout, the paper is often revered for its economic success despite the industry’s struggle to keep afloat. Its print business model relies solely on a local Washington market of advertisers, including government contractors and lobbyists. Print ads continue to be the paper’s major source of revenue. And, despite its famous online presence that reaches over 6 million viewers, its estimated 2009 revenue for its print publication was approximately $11 million compared with the $7 million in profits generated by its online property.23
Since its launch in January 2007, the paper has grown to become one of the most influential local papers covering politics in D.C. The paper is split into four main sections: daily, policy, special and magazine. Politico partners with several news outlets that co-report and distribute its video, print and audio content. Though politics dominates its pages, Politico does not cover local political news such as the Washington D.C. mayoral elections. Instead, in 2009, Allbritton Communications announced its next venture, TBD.com, which will focus solely on local news following its expected launch in 2010.
The District also hosts a variety of neighborhood-specific print publications that focus on specific areas around the city. Most notably, the Current Newspaper family of publications delivers over 52,874 papers weekly between its four neighborhood mastheads – The Northwest Current, The Georgetown Current, The Dupont Current and The Foggy Bottom Current.24 The papers are delivered and are available in various locations such as apartment complexes, neighborhood grocery stores and metro stops throughout the northwest corridor. Its online presence, The Voice of the Hill announced in March 2010 that it would close its doors and cease publication of its coverage of the neighborhoods on Capitol Hill.25 Additional community related publications include the Hill Rag, MIDCITY DC and East of the River, which are all published by Capital Community News. Like its counterparts in the northwest quadrant, these publications are limited by their areas of distribution. While the goal is to serve a set of interests based on a specific geographical area, limiting the area of distribution can be problematic. The limited distribution areas can be problematic, because without an attempt to share and expose news to outsiders, the community runs the risk of continued segregation of news
In addition to daily newspapers and neighborhood news outlets, D.C. is also home to weekly papers and monthly magazines. The Washington City Paper is the city’s alt-weekly printed in a tabloid format on newsprint. Published since 1981, Washington City Paperis a general-interest publication and an online destination. It specializes in features of urban issues and politics, arts & entertainment, restaurant reviews and the unique qualities of D.C. life. In addition, the City Paper publishes comprehensive film, theater, music, gallery, dance, and museum guides The City Paper is a controlled-circulation weekly of more than 73,000 copies throughout the D.C. metro area.26
The city’s magazines include The Washingtonian and Washington Monthly. The Washingtonian averages newsstand sales of over 40,000 copies per month27 and is read each month by more than 400,000 people, who spend an average of 96 minutes with each issue.28 A typical reader makes roughly $224,300 per year and holds a college degree. Its self-proclaimed tag line is,”its the magazine Washington lives by.”29 Coverage includes dining, shopping, entertainment, and personalities.
Founded in 1969, the Washington Monthly hangs its hat on its editorial approach. According to their site, the paper’s mission is to “tell fascinating, deeply reported stories about the ideas and characters that animate America’s government.”30 It also touts its non-partisan approach to news and its non-affiliated, independently owned business structure.31 As a result, the magazine’s coverage focuses not on “endless political horse races” but on how to better the government.32
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[1] Washington Post Media, Market Book, p. 31, http://www.washingtonpostads.com/adsite/_res/files/managed/2010%20Market..., Accessed 20 July 2010.
[2] For this and other estimates of working journalists, calculations referred to mastheads published in print or online by each of the media outlets listed in the tables accompanying this report. Some data were provided by phone calls to news outlets, and some were unavailable. For print media, data were unavailable at the time of publication for The Washington Examiner, Eagle News, Muslim Link, and Washington Jewish Week.
[3] Matt Marshall, “Washington Post acquires iCurrent, a personal news aggregator (exclusive),” MediaBeat, 14 July 2010, http://media.venturebeat.com/2010/07/14/washington-post-acquires-icurren..., Accessed 15 July 2010.
[4] This calculation does not distinguish between print and online. See http://www.washpost.com/gen_info/quickfacts/info_emp.shtml, Accessed 25 July 2010.
[5] Gabriel Sherman, “Post Apocalypse,: The New Republic, 19 Jan. 2010, http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/post-apocalypse, Accessed 23 July 2010.
[6] Frank Ahrens. “Washington Post newspaper earns profit in 4Q” The Washington Post. February 24, 2010. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/24/AR201002...
[7] Washington Post Media, Market Book, p. 16, http://www.washingtonpostads.com/adsite/_res/files/managed/2010%20Market..., Accessed 23 July 2010.
[8] Washington Post Media, Market Book, p. 16, http://www.washingtonpostads.com/adsite/_res/files/managed/2010%20Market..., Accessed 20 July 2010.
[9] Washington Post Media, Market Book, p. 19, http://www.washingtonpostads.com/adsite/_res/files/managed/2010%20Market..., Accessed 19 July 2010.
[10] “Washington Post Foreign Bureaus”, The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/foreignbureaus/index.html, Accessed 20, July 2010.
[11] Rafat Ali, “ WaPo Closing Hyperlocal Site LoudonExtra,” paidContent, 18 Aug. 2009, http://paidcontent.org/article/419-wapo-closing-hyperlocal-site-loudoune..., Accessed 25 July 2010.
[12] Washington Post Media, Market Book, p. 27, http://www.washingtonpostads.com/adsite/_res/files/managed/2010%20Market..., Accessed 21 July 2010.
[13] Ashley Parker, “With Tumult at the Top, Washington Times Faces Uncertainty”, The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/business/media/01moon.html?_r=1, 30 November 2009.
[14] Paul Bedard, “Washington Times Moves Headquarters”, U.S. News & World Report, 6 January 2010
http://politics.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2010/01/06/was...
[15] Ian Shapira, “Unification Church will put Washington Times up for sale” The Washington Post, 1 May 2010, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/30/AR201004...
[16] Michael Calderone, “Phil Anschutz’s Conservative Agenda”, Politico.com 16 October 2009, http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28355.html
[17] Washington Post Media, Market Book, p. 27, http://www.washingtonpostads.com/adsite/_res/files/managed/2010%20Market..., Accessed 21 July 2010.
[18] Michael Calderone, “Phil Anschutz’s Conservative Agenda”, Politico.com 16 October 2009, http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28355.html
[19] “What are the Ad Opportunities”, The Washington Post - Express, 16 July 2010, http://www.washingtonpostads.com/adsite/what/express/page1273.html
[20] "Scarborough 2009: Release 1”, The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpostads.com/adsite/what/express/Audience/page3531.h, Accessed 19 July 2010.
[21] “About Us”, Roll Call, http://corporate.cqrollcall.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=450, Accessed 19 July 2010.
[22] “Audience Information”, Politico, http://www.politico.com/advertising/print.html#audience, Accessed 20 July 2010.
[23] Michael Wolff. “Politico’s Washington Coup”, Vanity Fair, 2009 August, http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/08/wolff200908?currentP...).
[24] Jay Yarow, “Politico's Revenue Will Be Over $20 Million For 2009”, Business Insider, 4 January 2010,
[25] (http://www.businessinsider.com/politicos-revenue-will-be-over-20-million...)
[26] “About”, Current Newspapers, http://www.currentnewspapers.com/, Accessed 4 August 2010.
[27] “Voice to cease publication”, The Capitol Hill Current Voice, 4 March 2010, http://www.voiceofthehill.com/FRONT-PAGE/Voice-to-cease-publication Accessed 4 August 2010.
[28] ”Advertising”, Washington City Paper, http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/pages/advertising/, Accessed 25 July 2010.
[29] Fast Demographic Fact. The Washingtonian, (.pdf) p. 1
[30] “About Us”, The Washingtonian, http://www.washingtonian.com/about.html, Accessed 20 July 2010.
[31] Ibid
[32] “About”, Washington Monthly, http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/inside/about.html, Accessed 23 July 2010.
