Washington Post to cut more sections, features, introduce new tech for others

 by Cleveland Park Listserv Editors

 

Do you have the print edition of today's Washington Post (April 1, 2023)? It was only by chance that we noticed a sidebar near the masthead, announcing more changes to our hometown paper. This past year the Post has already undergone some major trimming and revamping of sections, including all of the following features, which have been cut:

 

- Outlook opinion section on Sundays

- KidsPost

- Parade Magazine insert

- The Washington Post Magazine (including the Date Lab column and the Second Glance puzzle)

- The Style Invitational weekly contest

- Skywatch astronomy column

- News obituaries for local residents

- Dance criticism

- Art gallery listings

 

Today's announcement -- in type so small it was a strain on the vision of many farsighted older readers -- noted the following changes and deletions, as well as a few additions and upgrades:  

 

Free for All, the Saturday column made up of letters from readers pointing out grammatical errors and editing misjudgments/insensitive headlines or calling for more or better coverage of overlooked topics, has come to an end. Reader complaints and criticism will henceforth be accepted via the Washington Post's smartphone app only -- with a small user fee based on number of characters (limit 140).

 

Film critics will review shows from Amazon Prime producers in both the print and online editions of the paper. Movies from all other production companies will be reviewed online only. 

 

The Dining Out section will be greatly expanded and will no longer represent the opinions of a single restaurant reviewer. Now, instead of Tom Sietsema's descriptions written from his own limited personal perspective on his chosen meals, restaurant owners will be able to purchase space to post their own favorite customer-generated reviews. Payment will be on a sliding scale, with the lowest cost to post one-star reviews to the highest cost for five-star reviews. 

 

The Sports section will no longer cover local high school sports, with exceptions made in special circumstances -- e.g., one of the Post's top managers or members of its editorial board has a son or daughter on a championship team or is a student-athlete who might be recruited by an Ivy League college in a elite sport, such as golf, field hockey, or lacrosse.

 

Education columnist Jay Mathews will be replaced by a school lottery system, in which each column will be written by the principal of one of the city's public charter schools, selected each time by random drawing.

 

A new horoscope will be added, with an interactive feature in the digital version, tailored to your individual star-chart. First you will input the date, time, and place of your birth, and answer a few simple questions about your demographics and preferences, and you will learn what products and subscriptions will align with your personality and help you to lead your happiest and most productive life. Amazon suggestions and links to purchase will then appear beside or below the interactive horoscope. You will need to click "no, thanks" to move on to the next screen.

 

The Travel section will undergo a technological upgrade, with all travel reviews, columns, and features written by ChatGPT, programmed to synthesize the finest elements of travel writing available to the most advanced and sophisticated AI algorithm in use today.

 

The two main advice columns, Carolyn Hax and Ask Amy, will also be handed over to ChatGPT, with one programmed to be deeply empathetic and exhaustively thorough, while the other will be programmed to be short, snappy, and snarkily amusing. The third major advice column, Miss Manners, running in the Post since 1978, will become a collage of words and phrases reassembled/recycled from old columns.

 

We have also discovered that four daily comic strips -- The Family Circus, Dennis the Menace, Beetle Bailey, and Hagar the Horrible -- are no longer running any new material but are simply re-using the same six pieces in rotation, Monday through Saturday. It seems that no one else has noticed this, either -- although this has been going on for about eleven years.

 

It seems this is just the beginning. Future changes may not be announced but you will see them when you visit your "My Post" account and click on "new messages/ announcements."

 

To comment on any of these changes, CLICK HERE.

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