The Washington Post Co. posted a third quarter profit, no thanks to its newspaper division, Reuters reported today. According to the report, the paper actually was an albatross, with print advertising revenue down by 28 percent.

Conversely, The Associated Press attributed the publisher's gains to deep cuts in the newsroom rather than any great strides in the company's broadcasting and educational divisions, the latter of which lags behind competitors.

The Wall Street Journal took a more balanced view of the earnings report, characterising the strong performance of The Post's non-newspaper businesses as cushioning continuing losses in the strictly publishing divisions.

The hard figures as declared by the company itself were as follows: net income of US$17.1 million ($1.81 per share) for the quarter ending September 27, 2009, compared to net income of US$10.4 million ($1.08 per share) for the same period last year.