Washington Post sacks critic

Washington Post sacks critic

News

norman lebrecht

December 02, 2022

The paper, owned by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, has laid off a dozen employees.

Prominent among them is the dance critic Sarah L. Kaufman, a Pulitzer Prize winner who has kept the flame burning for ballet in DC for half a century. She says: ‘By eliminating the dance critic position and all that dance coverage can be, The Washington Post is narrowing its arts journalism and its scope. I can’t fathom why this institution is shutting itself off to what dancers and choreographers have to say about our lives and the world we live in.’

So true.

Comments

  • Tony Sanderson says:

    It is all rather sad. During the Cold War President Eisenhower was keen to promote the arts, e.g.he sent the Boston Symphony Orchestra a congratulatory letter after a tour of Europe.

    The CIA paid the BSO to tour the world according to the digboston.com website to promote America’s ability in the arts.

    These cultural art forms are no longer valued so highly so it seems.

  • MMcGrath says:

    Does DC have a ballet company? How many companies visit the Kennedy Center each year? Does a music critic remain on staff? More info please.

    • TishaDoll says:

      In the first decade of the 21st century when Charles Kaiser ran Kennedy Center and when Vilar was still ‘persona grata’ the Kirov had a season every year, NY City Ballet, Suzanne Farrell’s young and excellent company those were the ones I enjoyed

    • Don Ciccio says:

      The Washington Ballet to start with, the visiting ones at Kennedy Center mentioned below, and many small independent companies which deserve at least an occasional nod.

    • Patrick says:

      Yes, to both. Local ballet company and (a fine) music critic at the Post.

  • Serge says:

    Blame Elon Musk!

  • Hayne says:

    As if the deep state gives a sh*t about the arts…

  • Old Man in the Midwest says:

    The guy is worth gobs of money and he doesn’t appreciate the great things in life.

    No wonder his wife dumped him.

    We need arts reviewers, we need artists, we need performers, we need dancers.

    As Churchill said when someone told him to stop performances during WWII in London, “Then what are we fighting for?”

  • J Barcelo says:

    Nothing new here. This has been happening in so-called “newspapers” in the USA for a long time now. The only music to get attention is rap, hip hop and has-been rock groups. The fine arts are being shoved off the pages and newsroom management couldn’t care less. They equate classical music , balllet and opera with conservatism and therefore bad, bad, bad.

    • Karden says:

      Today’s culture and politics: “The beatings will continue until the morale improves.”

    • David K. Nelson says:

      Not to mention that daily newspapers are not exactly a business model poised to take off like a rocket. I suspect other worthy areas of reporting were also axed by the WaPo.

  • Alank says:

    The Washington ComPost is a third rate newspaper that has pretty much dispensed with coverage of western art music. Not even the National symphony receives regular concert reviews. The paper is almost solely devoted to woke topics. It must literally have a quota on the number of articles in each section which cover a favored group. All freelance music reviewer have been purged and the one music reviewer although quite good is given little real estate. The only really fine critic the Post had was Tim Page who was fired for mocking the now late drug addicted addled brain former mayor Marion Barry

  • Margaret Koscielny says:

    Jeff Bezos is going broke from giving away hundreds of millions of dollars to other rich people instead of paying taxes. Poor Bezos.
    He can’t afford to pay his employees.

    In the meantime, culture gets the short shrif it always seems to get when bottom lines are discussed.

  • Herbie G says:

    For what shall it profit Jeff Bezos, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? That’s if Bezos ever had a soul to lose…

  • Potpourri says:

    Coverage of the arts in newspapers has decreased for several years, including the Washington Post and New York Times. Digital newspapers are becoming more popular and companies look for ways to reduce costs. Many lovers of the arts seek specialized media such as Opera Wire for reviews and news.Also Slipped Disc if you prefer news mixed with opinion, controversy, humor and an entertaining comments section. SD recently added a podcast which features delightful British commentary.

  • Sue Sonata Form says:

    I’m surprised Bezos wanted the WAPO at all. The media landscape has changed irrevocably thanks to social media and people take less and less notice of once-formidable mainstream media. And, to be fair, those organizations have rendered themselves untrustworthy because of political activism.

  • Petros Linardos says:

    Nothing new about this sad, long term development. And yet criticism can thrive on blogs, like https://www.classical-scene.com/, where critics can write without space limitations. There are other examples, probably also in ballet. Blogs look like the future.

  • William Osborne says:

    The most powerful capital in history that doesn’t even rank in the top 100 cities for opera performances per year. The arts are too leftist. If only Americans knew how deeply manipulated they are.

    • Hayne says:

      Mr. Osborne,
      You are correct about the CIA’s influence in the US. They are their own government and they own the media. Please don’t think for a second this doesn’t also affect the European media. Udo Ulfkotte, former editor of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung admitted the he and many others of the press in Europe were bribed by the CIA to print what they were told. His book “Journalists for hire: How the CIA Buys the News” is excellent. It’s not just Americans who are manipulated.

  • Karden says:

    === That was only one tiny part of the CIA’s covert operation called the “Congress for Cultural Freedom” to manipulate the arts toward a more right wing stance. ===

    Now the CIA is promoting a more leftwing stance, so the arts of the past in today’s era are increasingly taking on a “diversity above all else!” stance.

  • Bedrich Sourcream says:

    Just following the lead of the New York Times, no doubt.

  • Rob Keeley says:

    Well, colluding with the corrupt Biden administration doesn’t come cheap.

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