No more photographers; no more Sports section at Wash. Times

Maybe this should go elsewhere, but the Washington Times newspaper shut down the Sports section. It also laid off all 9 staff photographers and a photo editor.

Also the NYTimes is getting photos from readers nowadays.

The Washington Times is about to go under, based on what they've been doing lately.

Is it the only paper in town?

No, we've also got the Washington Post. But their Sports section is very thin... barely a page for HS, College, or local Pro sports (Nats, Caps, Wiz, Skins).

Unless the event ends before ~2pm deadline, it won't be in the next day's Post.

I'm always impressed when I visit my inlaws for the holidays... we'll stay up until midnight to watch a basketball game or a bowl game... wake up at 6am and it'll be in their morning paper. Probably easier with a smaller paper... wire feeds... no in-house coverage except maybe the local high schools... 20 mile delivery radius. The WashPost probably has a 120 mile delivery radius.

I don't know anyone who reads the Times, but everyone reads the Post. It's not a newspaper that will be missed much by many. Isn't it owned by the Moonies?

Good to hear that at least one is still available.

No offense, but I don't know anyone who reads the sports section anymore. Everybody does ESPN online or follows blogs. Bummer about the photographers, though. How on earth are photojournalists supposed to earn a living? It's ironic-the equipment is better than ever and there is no demand for photojournalists.

ESPN online covers local sports?
Blogs

Online News and Sports coverage is going to be the end for the printed News Papers someday. Eventually they will all be an online thing, if at all. They just can't compete with the inherently lower costs of the internet compaired to having the cost of paper and other printing supplies as well as saleries and insurance for those people to run the expensive machines all keep going up. And don't even think about the overhead (heat, electricity, water) of printing facility. Denver used to be a two newspaper town until the Rocky Mountain News went under a couple of years ago. We are fortunate enough to be left with one great rag in the Denver Post. They have mantained a large staff of photogs for a while now. But who knows what the future holds. I would hate to lose The Denver Post. There is something visural to holding and reading a news paper on a Sunday morning while drinking coffee. Getting your hands dirty from the ink and the smeel too. And besides, how will the local TV news stations know what the news stories are without the newspapers? Don't ask how I know about that crap...

Rainyday wrote in post #9304896
No offense, but I don't know anyone who reads the sports section anymore.

I do every day.

Newspapers are hurting bad. It's sad. The text generation is too self absorbed to understand what they lost.

Liberal news outlets are steadily declining, if they would report and not hide the truth they would flourish.

blackhawk wrote in post #9322850
Newspapers are hurting bad.

Tell me about it...I'm being made redundant in the UK at the end of the month from a national newspaper.

jenwales wrote in post #9298570
I don't know anyone who reads the Times, but everyone reads the Post. It's not a newspaper that will be missed much by many. Isn't it owned by the Moonies?

It was owned by the Moonies when it first started out but that may have changed. It is considered an important "voice" in the nation's capitol by the conservative establishment. I think it will receive enough support from that base, much of it in the form of advertising revenue, to stay in business.

The Washington Times never had very wide sports coverage, mostly just a token effort to bolster credibility as a genuine newspaper. The Washington Post, once known as the icon of liberal journalism, has been rapidly drifting toward the center as times become tougher across the industry. Recently the Post has begun using copy and photos supplied by their suburban subsidiary, the Gazette chain, for HS sports coverage. I haven't heard of layoffs for their photographers but they are not filling positions when someone leaves. They have several excellent shooters on staff, including a few who work almost exclusively in sports. But some of the names once familiar as staffers, and still frequently present in the Sports and Metro sections, are now contract shooters as a result of a couple of rounds of buyouts.

Sledhed wrote in post #9322788
I do every day.

x a bajillion