As someone else so aptly said, "Democracy Dies in Darkness" has become WaPo's aspiration. To me, that said it all. Reading here, I wondered why you didn't find a few words (while telling us all about your own life story) to even mention democracy...
My essay wasn't about democracy or politics. It was about the media landscape. Perhaps try reading more political Substacks for that type of content! Mine is centered around books.
I'm just encouraging all of us who have voices to be careful when we fall into thinking we can safely divorce the state of the world from our basic rights and freedom from books in 2026. My latest Substack, in fact, is about "Redefining "Political." Days are gone when we have the luxury to write about the media as something separate IMHO
I'm devastated by this for so many reasons. This is my paper, the place I've read my entire adult life. So many reporters I respect that are doing such important work being treated this way, some as they're in the midst of dangerous circumstances to share the voice of people fighting for freedom. Entire departments eliminated, including the books section.
Oh Zibby. The Washington Post is also heartbreaking. I am a big fan of Ron Charles and I can't believe he's gone from this paper, just like that. As well as many others. He will continue to do his own thing, but it is completely different not having books present in a newspaper. I've never heard of such a thing. Bam! Now we have. I'm really sad over the Post. It was a really great paper.
Do not give up the fight, especially for print media. If we cave to the popular tide, all long form will follow. We are humans, empowered by dialogue and stories –– not just snatches of headlines that the algorithm feeds us. Every time I see someone immersed in a book on the NYC subway, I know there is hope. If writers keep writing, somehow, the business model will follow. Zibby Publishing is sure doing its part. Please don't stop.
I also loved reading Ron Charles’ newsletter and book reviews every Friday. You make such excellent points in your piece - everything is becoming a flat echo chamber. I am becoming more and more conscious of this and trying to dig myself out of it. I am now actively trying to read more books from long before the internet era to help me draw on words and thoughts that are more varied. I am a book reviewer myself (on bookstagram and I do appreciate that you follow me!!), and I am realizing that what started as a hobby is now morphing into a role where I have become a bit of a keeper of a dying art.
I really appreciate this analysis. I was married to an old school journalist for 25 years (who died 10 years ago, before this new day truly dawned) and always wonder what he would be thinking about the complete shift to the consumer to choose their news. We are indeed, enmeshed in stories as total strangers, not as a community. I just listened to Ezra Klein interview Priya Parker, and they talked about the destruction of the community ethic in service to peak individualization. We all care about being our best selves, but there's no one sitting at the table across from us. My husband was the last of a dying breed, a trained shoe leather journalist, whose first break from tradition was learning how to get the story through a phone call, rather than being on site. We are so far from that now it's another planet. He also became a journalist because he was a Watergate baby, and wanted nothing more than to come to DC and work for Washington Post. The WaPo is still my local paper, and now it will dedicated to nothing but the local industry, politics, which means, of course, Trump. I'm devastated by the death knell of democracy, but at least heartened by the incredible WaPo (and other) journalists who have come to Substack to continue to offer us strong reportage and opinion. We'll now have to see how long this platform will survive under the authoritarian regime.
Insightful piece on the curation crisis. The "no TV Guide for Instagram" line really nails it - we traded editorial gatekeeping for algorithmic gatekeeping without realizing one is accountable and the other isn't. I've felt this shift too where following 4000+ accounts creates this illusion of choice but the feed curates itself anyway. The irony is we're all producres and consumers now but somehow have less agency than when we just had editors.
Thank you for this — a collective grief post. Some of my sadness lifted.
Savannah's mom's kidnapping — has everyone read Taffy Brodesser-Akner's incredible book "The Long Island Compromise"? It's about a kidnapping, and I have a feeling the plot in her book will have similarities to what's happening now. Fantastic book either way.
I’m going to talk out of both sides of my mouth here: yes, there are real, sucker-punches-to-the-gut losses in legacy media. And they are also partially to blame.
Hear me out.
I live in the DC area and used to subscribe to the Post. I grew up in Miami and used to subscribe to the Miami Herald as well.
I recently grabbed a copy of the latter on a trip visiting family and thought I had accidentally grabbed the Penny Saver. It was that stripped down, virtually unrecognizable from the paper I read growing up.
I pray that doesn’t happen to the Post. But with a billionaire who pillaged the book business at the helm, I’m not holding my breath.
But the Post has been declining for a while. I used to subscribe to a few newspapers and I would read how each would cover the news, here and abroad.
Except for the occasional outlier columnist or feature focus, The New York Times and The Washington Post were always writing in the same font. Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal also had the same problem but obviously a very different audience. Reading them made me feel like I was having drinks with someone else’s rich grandparents.
My point is, both felt like echo chambers. And that wasn’t just boring to me after a while but suspect.
The Free Press came along and I immediately had-and have-a love-hate relationship with its content. They are writing the stories I want to hear more about-and also taking stances that make me grind my teeth.
And yet neither are click bait and they’re making me think. I see a wide variety of viewpoints.
And guess what? They’re growing, when everyone else is losing money & firing talent.
I don’t know if Weiss & TFP will hold to their starting ethos. Who knows with the buyout and CBS takeover. I’m rooting for them, but I’m still keeping an eye out.
As an author, a million years ago I got a job in a bookstore to learn how the business worked. That could be a whole article, but the fact that some of these publishing giants have lasted as long as their have is actually a testament to readers’ love of stories in long form. Because I promise you, it’s not their business model.
Recent stats on trad publishing reported only 25% of books earn out. Authors only make 10% profit. So 75% of the product they are selling loses them money and 90 percent of authors that have a book earn out make only ten percent of any profits. This is not sustainable.
I root for @Zibby for a lot of reasons, but one I don’t mention as much is the fact that she’s taking a chance on a vastly different business model than the Big Five. I’m hearing of other presses, smaller for sure, trying to reinvent what has been a very broken wheel.
I don’t pretend to predict the future-and these are absolutely dark times with too-big-to-fail corporate voices being just as draconian on messaging and access as the current administration. Those with talent are going to need both resilience and entrepreneurial flexibility. They may need to form new coalitions with others. Smaller tents to start, but with fertile land to expand upon.
Your insightful comments are appreciated. As a third generation native Washingtonian, I can tell you that this town is reeling from the gutting of The Washington Post. People are overwhelmingly horrified and many have cancelled their subscriptions since yesterday. I'm going to hang on to my subscription, possibly out of morbid curiosity, because I want to see what the paper will be like with the guts ripped out of it. I'm very sad and angry about all this!
This is such an important piece, and you shared it with so much clarity and heart. I really appreciate how honestly you hold both truths at once: deep gratitude for rigorous editorial institutions and real concern about a media ecosystem. I have been watching too, horrified, seeing Savannah go from trusted news source and thoughtful commentator to the center of an unimaginable story herself. It is heartbreaking and unfathomable. I felt this deeply as I stepped away from nearly a decade in news and watched that internal world shift in real time. Thank you for continuing to shine a light with such integrity. I pray for SG's mother and her whole family.
As someone else so aptly said, "Democracy Dies in Darkness" has become WaPo's aspiration. To me, that said it all. Reading here, I wondered why you didn't find a few words (while telling us all about your own life story) to even mention democracy...
My essay wasn't about democracy or politics. It was about the media landscape. Perhaps try reading more political Substacks for that type of content! Mine is centered around books.
I'm just encouraging all of us who have voices to be careful when we fall into thinking we can safely divorce the state of the world from our basic rights and freedom from books in 2026. My latest Substack, in fact, is about "Redefining "Political." Days are gone when we have the luxury to write about the media as something separate IMHO
I'm devastated by this for so many reasons. This is my paper, the place I've read my entire adult life. So many reporters I respect that are doing such important work being treated this way, some as they're in the midst of dangerous circumstances to share the voice of people fighting for freedom. Entire departments eliminated, including the books section.
Oh Zibby. The Washington Post is also heartbreaking. I am a big fan of Ron Charles and I can't believe he's gone from this paper, just like that. As well as many others. He will continue to do his own thing, but it is completely different not having books present in a newspaper. I've never heard of such a thing. Bam! Now we have. I'm really sad over the Post. It was a really great paper.
Do not give up the fight, especially for print media. If we cave to the popular tide, all long form will follow. We are humans, empowered by dialogue and stories –– not just snatches of headlines that the algorithm feeds us. Every time I see someone immersed in a book on the NYC subway, I know there is hope. If writers keep writing, somehow, the business model will follow. Zibby Publishing is sure doing its part. Please don't stop.
Such a sad day in so many ways.
Once a great paper;
The Washington Post.
#Bezos has reduced it to:
#TheWashingtonGhost
I also loved reading Ron Charles’ newsletter and book reviews every Friday. You make such excellent points in your piece - everything is becoming a flat echo chamber. I am becoming more and more conscious of this and trying to dig myself out of it. I am now actively trying to read more books from long before the internet era to help me draw on words and thoughts that are more varied. I am a book reviewer myself (on bookstagram and I do appreciate that you follow me!!), and I am realizing that what started as a hobby is now morphing into a role where I have become a bit of a keeper of a dying art.
There's been a shift, for sure.
I really appreciate this analysis. I was married to an old school journalist for 25 years (who died 10 years ago, before this new day truly dawned) and always wonder what he would be thinking about the complete shift to the consumer to choose their news. We are indeed, enmeshed in stories as total strangers, not as a community. I just listened to Ezra Klein interview Priya Parker, and they talked about the destruction of the community ethic in service to peak individualization. We all care about being our best selves, but there's no one sitting at the table across from us. My husband was the last of a dying breed, a trained shoe leather journalist, whose first break from tradition was learning how to get the story through a phone call, rather than being on site. We are so far from that now it's another planet. He also became a journalist because he was a Watergate baby, and wanted nothing more than to come to DC and work for Washington Post. The WaPo is still my local paper, and now it will dedicated to nothing but the local industry, politics, which means, of course, Trump. I'm devastated by the death knell of democracy, but at least heartened by the incredible WaPo (and other) journalists who have come to Substack to continue to offer us strong reportage and opinion. We'll now have to see how long this platform will survive under the authoritarian regime.
Insightful piece on the curation crisis. The "no TV Guide for Instagram" line really nails it - we traded editorial gatekeeping for algorithmic gatekeeping without realizing one is accountable and the other isn't. I've felt this shift too where following 4000+ accounts creates this illusion of choice but the feed curates itself anyway. The irony is we're all producres and consumers now but somehow have less agency than when we just had editors.
Thank you for this — a collective grief post. Some of my sadness lifted.
Savannah's mom's kidnapping — has everyone read Taffy Brodesser-Akner's incredible book "The Long Island Compromise"? It's about a kidnapping, and I have a feeling the plot in her book will have similarities to what's happening now. Fantastic book either way.
I’m going to talk out of both sides of my mouth here: yes, there are real, sucker-punches-to-the-gut losses in legacy media. And they are also partially to blame.
Hear me out.
I live in the DC area and used to subscribe to the Post. I grew up in Miami and used to subscribe to the Miami Herald as well.
I recently grabbed a copy of the latter on a trip visiting family and thought I had accidentally grabbed the Penny Saver. It was that stripped down, virtually unrecognizable from the paper I read growing up.
I pray that doesn’t happen to the Post. But with a billionaire who pillaged the book business at the helm, I’m not holding my breath.
But the Post has been declining for a while. I used to subscribe to a few newspapers and I would read how each would cover the news, here and abroad.
Except for the occasional outlier columnist or feature focus, The New York Times and The Washington Post were always writing in the same font. Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal also had the same problem but obviously a very different audience. Reading them made me feel like I was having drinks with someone else’s rich grandparents.
My point is, both felt like echo chambers. And that wasn’t just boring to me after a while but suspect.
The Free Press came along and I immediately had-and have-a love-hate relationship with its content. They are writing the stories I want to hear more about-and also taking stances that make me grind my teeth.
And yet neither are click bait and they’re making me think. I see a wide variety of viewpoints.
And guess what? They’re growing, when everyone else is losing money & firing talent.
I don’t know if Weiss & TFP will hold to their starting ethos. Who knows with the buyout and CBS takeover. I’m rooting for them, but I’m still keeping an eye out.
As an author, a million years ago I got a job in a bookstore to learn how the business worked. That could be a whole article, but the fact that some of these publishing giants have lasted as long as their have is actually a testament to readers’ love of stories in long form. Because I promise you, it’s not their business model.
Recent stats on trad publishing reported only 25% of books earn out. Authors only make 10% profit. So 75% of the product they are selling loses them money and 90 percent of authors that have a book earn out make only ten percent of any profits. This is not sustainable.
I root for @Zibby for a lot of reasons, but one I don’t mention as much is the fact that she’s taking a chance on a vastly different business model than the Big Five. I’m hearing of other presses, smaller for sure, trying to reinvent what has been a very broken wheel.
I don’t pretend to predict the future-and these are absolutely dark times with too-big-to-fail corporate voices being just as draconian on messaging and access as the current administration. Those with talent are going to need both resilience and entrepreneurial flexibility. They may need to form new coalitions with others. Smaller tents to start, but with fertile land to expand upon.
PS: thank you Debbie Reed Fischer for forwarding the book stats my way.
Your insightful comments are appreciated. As a third generation native Washingtonian, I can tell you that this town is reeling from the gutting of The Washington Post. People are overwhelmingly horrified and many have cancelled their subscriptions since yesterday. I'm going to hang on to my subscription, possibly out of morbid curiosity, because I want to see what the paper will be like with the guts ripped out of it. I'm very sad and angry about all this!
New word, compound word: Bezosamazonbillionsautocracyintelligenceartificialtechice. It defines so much of the chaos going on in the world.
This is such an important piece, and you shared it with so much clarity and heart. I really appreciate how honestly you hold both truths at once: deep gratitude for rigorous editorial institutions and real concern about a media ecosystem. I have been watching too, horrified, seeing Savannah go from trusted news source and thoughtful commentator to the center of an unimaginable story herself. It is heartbreaking and unfathomable. I felt this deeply as I stepped away from nearly a decade in news and watched that internal world shift in real time. Thank you for continuing to shine a light with such integrity. I pray for SG's mother and her whole family.