This Is Rich (WaPo Cuts are Bush’s Fault!)
From Editor & Publisher (HT Drudge), about the news that The Washington Post Company is cutting 80 newsroom jobs, or about 10%, through buyouts and attrition:
Sources said editors explained that some of the foreign cuts were the result of high costs covering the Iraq war, up to $1 million per year. But they stressed that war coverage would not be reduced, at least for the moment.
So ….. if Bush hadn’t gone into Iraq, some of those 80 jobs would still be there. Uh-huh.
Snide comment 1: How many more wars does Bush have to start before The Washington Post has to shut down?
Snide comment 2: Covering a war from the Baghdad Sheraton is probably more expensive for the company than covering it out in the field, though the reporters will have to learn how to get by without the shrimp cocktail.
Additional snide remarks are welcome from the snidely inclined.
Hey, let’s have the SOB Alliance bid for the job of covering Iraq for the WaPO.
we’ll do it for half a mil a year!
breaking it down
One reporter in baghdad, (american) salary, medical, taxes, etc. $100,000
one photographer $80,000
camera eqpt $20,000
laptops, etc. $10,000
network of Iraqi stringers, $50,000 max.
Travel $20,000
Palestine Hotel 90$x365×2 rooms $64000
Comment by dave — March 11, 2006 @ 9:32 am
#1, the reporter doesn’t get to stay at the Palestine, because he’s out in the field with the troops, and sleeps where they sleep. Even with the hotel, you’ve only spent $344K. Let’s send two.
Comment by TBlumer — March 11, 2006 @ 10:19 am