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The Washington Post ▢𓏺｜Definition｜1st｜20260712000059-00-⌔

The Washington Post - Wikipedia

The Washington Post

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The Washington Post (locally known as The Post and, informally, WaPo or WP) is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington metropolitan area12 and is considered a newspaper of record in the United States.345 In 2023, the Post had 130,000 print subscribers and 2.5 million digital subscribers, both ranking third among American newspapers after The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. In 2025, the number of print subscribers sank below 100,000 for the first time in 55 years.6

The Post was founded in 1877. In its early years, it went through several owners and struggled financially and editorially. In 1933, financier Eugene Meyer purchased it out of bankruptcy and revived its health and reputation; his successors Katharine and Phil Graham, Meyer’s daughter and son-in-law, bought out several rival publications and continued this work. The Post ’ s 1971 printing of the Pentagon Papers helped spur opposition to the Vietnam War. Reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein led the investigation into the break-in at the Democratic National Committee, which developed into the Watergate scandal and the 1974 resignation of President Richard Nixon. In October 2013, the Graham family sold the newspaper to Nash Holdings, a holding company owned by Jeff Bezos, for US$250 million.7

The newspaper has won 76 Pulitzer Prizes,8 second only to The New York Times.910 Washington Post journalists have received 18 Nieman Fellowships and 368 White House News Photographers Association awards.1112 Well-known for its political reporting in the U.S., it is one of the few American newspapers that still operate foreign bureaus,13 with international breaking news hubs in London and Seoul.14

Printed 2026-07-12.

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Footnotes

  1. “District of Columbia’s Top 10 Newspapers by Circulation”. Agility PR Solutions. October 16, 2015. Archived from the original on March 24, 2020. Retrieved March 24, 2020. ↩

  2. Gaaserud, Michaela Riva (February 11, 2014). Moon Virginia & Maryland: Including Washington DC. Avalon Publishing. p. 556. ISBN 978-1-61238-517-4. Archived from the original on September 1, 2023. Retrieved March 24, 2020. ↩

  3. Frost, Corey; Weingarten, Karen; Babington, Doug; LePan, Don; Okun, Maureen (May 30, 2017). The Broadview Guide to Writing: A Handbook for Students (6th ed.). Broadview Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-1-55481-313-1. Archived from the original on June 29, 2023. Retrieved February 18, 2023. ↩

  4. Dil, Cuneyt (October 18, 2023). “Washington Post buyouts hit local coverage”. Axios. Archived from the original on November 12, 2025. Retrieved November 20, 2025. ↩

  5. Doctor, Ken (December 3, 2015). “On The Washington Post and the ‘newspaper of record’ epithet”. POLITICO Media. Archived from the original on October 4, 2022. Retrieved December 16, 2021. ↩

  6. Morris, Vince (June 18, 2025). “Washington Post to Merge Metro Coverage Into Sports and Style Sections”. Washington Citypaper. Archived from the original on August 28, 2025. Retrieved September 30, 2025. ↩

  7. “The Real Reason Jeff Bezos Bought The Washington Post”. Fast Company. August 6, 2013. Archived from the original on March 29, 2018. Retrieved March 28, 2018. ↩

  8. “The Washington Post wins three 2023 Pulitzer Prizes”. The Washington Post. May 8, 2023. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved April 6, 2024. Including the 2023 awards, The Post has won 73 Pulitzer Prizes since 1936. ↩

  9. “The Washington Post wins the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for groundbreaking climate change coverage”. The Washington Post (Press release). May 4, 2020. Archived from the original on May 11, 2020. ↩

  10. Watson, Amy. “Media companies with the most Pulitzer awards in the U.S. 2018”. Statista. Archived from the original on September 14, 2020. Retrieved September 16, 2020. ↩

  11. “The Washington Post | Roper Center for Public Opinion Research”. ropercenter.cornell.edu. Archived from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved February 7, 2021. ↩

  12. “Jobs at”. www.theladders.com. Archived from the original on February 14, 2021. Retrieved February 7, 2021. ↩

  13. Kaphle, Anup (March 1, 2015). “The foreign desk in transition”. Columbia Journalism Review. Archived from the original on September 1, 2023. Retrieved December 15, 2022. ↩

  14. “The Washington Post announces breaking-news reporters for Seoul hub”. The Washington Post (Press release). July 12, 2021. Archived from the original on July 26, 2021. Retrieved December 3, 2023. ↩