Sarah Longwell’s focus group is hands down the best ever. I need to chuckle when MSNBC has her own to air a 30 second clip about her work. That 30 second clip does not provide close to the enlightenment of a complete track listen. It really is prime time material.
I subscribe to both the NYT and WaPo, as well as NYT Games. I finish Wordle and the CW before my feet hit the floor in the AM. The NYT is all-around pleasure but WaPo is political coverage from the political town itself.
Re the Times vs WaPo, in fact the NY Times is in a much larger city surrounded by a larger region. So the Times natural audience is far larger. I live 40 miles from Times Square and with the collapse of most local newspapers in NJ, the Times is where I go. I get paper on Sat/Sun and digital for all the rest.
But regarding all those things that newspapers can offer, the Times lives in the home of Broadway, of most book publishing, of Wall Street and even of much of the music industry. It is also home to many major museums, so from book reviews, to business news, the Times is head and shoulders about even the best regional newspaper, just by virtue of access to newsmakers.
WaPo cannot match that. No amount of business strategy can make up for what the Times has is its back yard.
Decades ago, my brother worked at the Paterson News. Even though it was a mediocre newspaper, when he wanted to review a broadway show, the show was just a relative few miles away. It is just easier here to get access to all of the extra stuff that builds interest besides the news.
I am late to the party. I do actually agree that the Focus Group is worth the subscription all by itself. It is consistently fascinating. Am I going to have to re-subscribe on Apple podcast?
Also, I have a girl crush on Sarah Longwell. She’s consistently more fiscally conservative in her views than mine. However, she speaks with logic and clarity, and with such equanimity and good humor it has helped me understand the value of practical fiscal conservatism.
I am a (kind of) subscriber to the NYT-my daughter has the subscription & I pay for HBO, Netflix, etc. The Cooking newsletter is what hooked us; my entire repetoir is recipes from Clark, Slagle, Tanis, Komolafe & Kim etc.
But WaPo's political writing was always better. Unfortunately for WaPo I decided to keep my Star Tribune subscription & give up WaPo; there's only so much reading one can do in a day!
Very glad to be a Bulwark plus member. Great value and well worth every penny. It is very important to support and be a part of sane and intelligent discourse.
Completely off topic, but National Geographic Channel is showing 9-11 all day with footage I've never seen before. Dear God, it feels like it happened today.
With respect to Josh Barro's piece, I will cop to a huge dollop of quasi-hometown bias: I've read the Washington Post on and off (and mostly on) since my undergrad days at Georgetown, when reading the local paper was considered to be a badge of honor by many of us. I still do today. But I have to admit, Mr. Barro (and by extension, the NYT) seems to be more right than wrong. I'm absolutely a Never-Trumper, but WaPo's reporting has seemed more and more hysterical to me as time has gone on. Their single-minded crusades for a single side of some issues, notably on immigration, have no place on the news pages of any paper that claims journalistic standards. And I'm with him on his funny but oh-so-true footnote, "Relatedly, I would drop the slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness” — the first step to becoming more than just a #resistance publication is taking that self-important dreck out of your goddamned web header."
I'm not quite there yet, but I'm starting to imagine myself going over to the Gotham enemy in the not too distant future.
I subscribe to both the WaPo and NYT. I think I’m closing in on my 10th anniversary as an on-line only subscriber of the latter. I actually find both papers more woke-type socially liberal then I’d like (NYT in particular) but maybe that’s all that’s coming out of J School anymore.
I will be dropping one of them soon and its def true NYT is more bang for the buck. That said, I’m paying nearly $30 a month for the NYT and much less for the WaPo.
I don’t foresee dropping my Bulwark+ membership under any circumstances.
I subscribed to both at one time and then I got annoyed at the comments and the woke stuff they seemed to be pushing as a paper, and how they treated some of their employees... but every day I wonder if I should join again ( offering me a great deal) , because I miss the magazine, the ethicist column, the puzzles, some of the columnists etc...I just don't know if I can be disciplined and stick to that stuff...lol
The only advantage crypto offers is it’s by far the best way to launder dirty money - for drug cartels, organized crime, Russian oligarchs etc crypto is the cats meow that keeps the cat away from these rats. For other potential buyers it’s a fools game aptly describe by Charlie Munger as “rat poison”. Perhaps Gensler’s game is to encourage crypto to poison so many credulous rats that much of its business is erased leaving only hard core criminals as customers.
Excellent newsletter choices again but we feel the need to mention The Comics as a great WaPo highlight. We get both papers, but there are historic jewels in the comics. For instance take Doonsbury: BD is named for a former Yale football player who was always getting injured. A smile & a link, one might name Chris Sale “Crystal Chris.” Isn’t a chuckle or smile of the day worth a crossword puzzle?
Thanks for the Sarah hard sell! Here’s a data point: I joined Bulwark+ because of The Focus Group pod. I think it should be required listening for anyone who wants to have a prayer of understanding this country.
Is the CSM not good anymore? I only learned of them 15 years ago because of the free subscription for Peace Corps volunteers. I haven't read in a long while, but it was always a welcome edition of my monthly mail dump.
I dunno. I haven't read it since they stopped printing hard copies. Had a subscription by mail for years. My comparison simply indicated WaPo's possible descent into obscurity.
Funny...I read the comments in chronological order, so I am seeing your post right after I made a reply about the CSM. It was in response to someone who was curious about other readers' subscriptions.
Sarah Longwell’s focus group is hands down the best ever. I need to chuckle when MSNBC has her own to air a 30 second clip about her work. That 30 second clip does not provide close to the enlightenment of a complete track listen. It really is prime time material.
I subscribe to both the NYT and WaPo, as well as NYT Games. I finish Wordle and the CW before my feet hit the floor in the AM. The NYT is all-around pleasure but WaPo is political coverage from the political town itself.
I agree that WaPo should drop the stupid motto.
News is food for thought,
Whether served on silver plate,
Or poor man's pewter.
Re the Times vs WaPo, in fact the NY Times is in a much larger city surrounded by a larger region. So the Times natural audience is far larger. I live 40 miles from Times Square and with the collapse of most local newspapers in NJ, the Times is where I go. I get paper on Sat/Sun and digital for all the rest.
But regarding all those things that newspapers can offer, the Times lives in the home of Broadway, of most book publishing, of Wall Street and even of much of the music industry. It is also home to many major museums, so from book reviews, to business news, the Times is head and shoulders about even the best regional newspaper, just by virtue of access to newsmakers.
WaPo cannot match that. No amount of business strategy can make up for what the Times has is its back yard.
Decades ago, my brother worked at the Paterson News. Even though it was a mediocre newspaper, when he wanted to review a broadway show, the show was just a relative few miles away. It is just easier here to get access to all of the extra stuff that builds interest besides the news.
I am late to the party. I do actually agree that the Focus Group is worth the subscription all by itself. It is consistently fascinating. Am I going to have to re-subscribe on Apple podcast?
Also, I have a girl crush on Sarah Longwell. She’s consistently more fiscally conservative in her views than mine. However, she speaks with logic and clarity, and with such equanimity and good humor it has helped me understand the value of practical fiscal conservatism.
I am a (kind of) subscriber to the NYT-my daughter has the subscription & I pay for HBO, Netflix, etc. The Cooking newsletter is what hooked us; my entire repetoir is recipes from Clark, Slagle, Tanis, Komolafe & Kim etc.
But WaPo's political writing was always better. Unfortunately for WaPo I decided to keep my Star Tribune subscription & give up WaPo; there's only so much reading one can do in a day!
Outstanding synopsis of what's important!
Very glad to be a Bulwark plus member. Great value and well worth every penny. It is very important to support and be a part of sane and intelligent discourse.
I love Josh and I hope when I get a little more discretionary cash I will subscribe. Been reading his free stuff in the meantime.
I am a Bulwark + member and I love The Focus Group and agree with your assessment of it's value...if I wasn't I might be tempted myself.
And I love Tim Alberta
Completely off topic, but National Geographic Channel is showing 9-11 all day with footage I've never seen before. Dear God, it feels like it happened today.
With respect to Josh Barro's piece, I will cop to a huge dollop of quasi-hometown bias: I've read the Washington Post on and off (and mostly on) since my undergrad days at Georgetown, when reading the local paper was considered to be a badge of honor by many of us. I still do today. But I have to admit, Mr. Barro (and by extension, the NYT) seems to be more right than wrong. I'm absolutely a Never-Trumper, but WaPo's reporting has seemed more and more hysterical to me as time has gone on. Their single-minded crusades for a single side of some issues, notably on immigration, have no place on the news pages of any paper that claims journalistic standards. And I'm with him on his funny but oh-so-true footnote, "Relatedly, I would drop the slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness” — the first step to becoming more than just a #resistance publication is taking that self-important dreck out of your goddamned web header."
I'm not quite there yet, but I'm starting to imagine myself going over to the Gotham enemy in the not too distant future.
I subscribe to both the WaPo and NYT. I think I’m closing in on my 10th anniversary as an on-line only subscriber of the latter. I actually find both papers more woke-type socially liberal then I’d like (NYT in particular) but maybe that’s all that’s coming out of J School anymore.
I will be dropping one of them soon and its def true NYT is more bang for the buck. That said, I’m paying nearly $30 a month for the NYT and much less for the WaPo.
I don’t foresee dropping my Bulwark+ membership under any circumstances.
I subscribed to both at one time and then I got annoyed at the comments and the woke stuff they seemed to be pushing as a paper, and how they treated some of their employees... but every day I wonder if I should join again ( offering me a great deal) , because I miss the magazine, the ethicist column, the puzzles, some of the columnists etc...I just don't know if I can be disciplined and stick to that stuff...lol
WaPo Comments are a horror show. And they shield some of their writers by simply not having comments at all.
Yeah, I noticed that and when thinking about why, I assumed it was because they knew the regulars would be awful....
The only advantage crypto offers is it’s by far the best way to launder dirty money - for drug cartels, organized crime, Russian oligarchs etc crypto is the cats meow that keeps the cat away from these rats. For other potential buyers it’s a fools game aptly describe by Charlie Munger as “rat poison”. Perhaps Gensler’s game is to encourage crypto to poison so many credulous rats that much of its business is erased leaving only hard core criminals as customers.
Excellent newsletter choices again but we feel the need to mention The Comics as a great WaPo highlight. We get both papers, but there are historic jewels in the comics. For instance take Doonsbury: BD is named for a former Yale football player who was always getting injured. A smile & a link, one might name Chris Sale “Crystal Chris.” Isn’t a chuckle or smile of the day worth a crossword puzzle?
SallyJones
Brian Dowling. He’s probably 75 now.
Yes. “Brittle Brian”
I love Prickly City - still mad that LA Times took it out.
Thanks for the Sarah hard sell! Here’s a data point: I joined Bulwark+ because of The Focus Group pod. I think it should be required listening for anyone who wants to have a prayer of understanding this country.
Could be worse: WaPo could be the Christian Science Monitor.
Is the CSM not good anymore? I only learned of them 15 years ago because of the free subscription for Peace Corps volunteers. I haven't read in a long while, but it was always a welcome edition of my monthly mail dump.
I dunno. I haven't read it since they stopped printing hard copies. Had a subscription by mail for years. My comparison simply indicated WaPo's possible descent into obscurity.
Funny...I read the comments in chronological order, so I am seeing your post right after I made a reply about the CSM. It was in response to someone who was curious about other readers' subscriptions.
100 percent correct about ‘The Focus Group’ pod. Highlight of my Saturday morning dog walk.