WashPost chases readers, trading LA Times for Bloomberg News

Posted by Lisette García on October 2, 2009 at 7:40 AM

The Washington Post on Wednesday ended a 47-year-old relationship with the Los Angeles Times in favour of an alliance with Bloomberg News to supply content for a joint wire service, the newspaper announced Thursday.

The move follows a range of changes at The Post, including absorption of its business coverage into the main section of the newsroom.

"For us, it's 300,000 readers, many of whom we didn't have before," said Marcus Brauchli, The Post's executive editor, of the alliance with New York-based Bloomberg, founded by New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. Brauchli noted that a key advantage of the partnership is access to the high-income corporate executives and market traders who rely on Bloomberg terminals for real-time financial data.

Meanwhile, The Post - along with most traditional newspapers - continues to suffer from flagging circulation and revenue figures, with subscriptions to and advertising in its print editions dwindling. The online version fares no better; smartphone users rated it an average of 2 out of a possible 5 stars, ranking it last among free applications featured on Blackberry World App, a multimedia phone software portal.

Shares of WPO fell on news of the reconfiguration.