The Washington Post is apparently keeping the "Democracy Dies in Darkness" slogan it rolled out in the early weeks of the first Trump administration, but it has a new mission statement. Sources tell the New York Times that "Riveting Storytelling for All of America" is being used as an "internal rallying point for employees" amid a push to expand the newspaper's audience. The sources say Suzi Watford, the Post's chief strategy officer, previewed the mission statement to employees this week. In a slide deck presentation to executives, she also set out what was described as the "Big Hairy Audacious Goal" of reaching 200 million paying subscribers.
The Times notes that 200 million subscribers, which would be around 76% of US adults, is an "ambitious goal," since the Post currently has fewer than 3 million digital subscribers. Hundreds of thousands of subscribers canceled after owner Jeff Bezos blocked the Post from endorsing a presidential candidate in the 2024 election, reports NPR. The Times' sources says Bezos has told journalists he wants the paper to gain more conservative readers, and to be "read by more blue-collar Americans who live outside coastal cities, mentioning people like firefighters in Cleveland."
The Times' sources say Watford's presentation called for the Post to "understand and represent interests across the country" and "provide a forum for viewpoints, expert perspectives, and conversation," with the slide deck describing the Post as "an AI-fueled platform for news." The three pillars of the plan were listed as "great journalism," "happy customers," and "make money." The Independent reports that the mission statement and the goal of 200 million subscribers were widely mocked online. "Has anyone thought of trying to get everyone to read the newspaper before," Sam Adams, a culture writer at Slate, quipped in a post at BlueSky. (Hundreds of Post staffers worried about an exodus of journalists sent a letter to Bezos this week.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
