The Baltimore Banner registered dcbanner.com and thedcbanner.com domain names after finding out The Washington Post planned to lay off its sports department, according to new reporting from Natalie Korach in Status.<\/p>\n
The domain registrations \u2014 which weren\u2019t previously reported when The Banner announced its DC sports expansion<\/a> two weeks ago \u2014 suggest the nonprofit news outlet may be eyeing a broader Washington presence beyond just covering the Nationals and Commanders. Editor-in-chief Audrey Cooper told Status she\u2019s downplaying immediate expansion beyond sports, but hasn\u2019t ruled it out.<\/p>\n Cooper also told Status<\/a> that The Banner has already hired one former Post staffer for its new Washington sports beat and is talking to many more laid-off Post journalists about potential roles. The minimum plan calls for three additional reporters plus an editor, meaning at least four total hires to cover DC sports.<\/p>\n What\u2019s become clearer since The Banner\u2019s initial announcement<\/a> is how directly Cooper is targeting Post leadership\u2019s rationale for shutting down the sports section. In her memo announcing the DC expansion \u2014 published to The Banner\u2019s website two weeks ago \u2014 Cooper wrote that The Banner\u2019s \u201cresearch and internal data show strong interest in coverage of these teams, and we know that excellent sports journalism drives reader engagement and subscriber retention.\u201d<\/p>\n That line, reported by Korach in Status, takes a direct shot at Post executive editor Matt Murray and now-former publisher<\/a> Will Lewis, who justified the sports section closure by claiming decisions were made with respect to reader data. If reader data actually mattered to Post leadership, Cooper\u2019s memo essentially argues, they wouldn\u2019t have eliminated sports coverage right as The Banner\u2019s data shows strong demand for it from readers who will pay for subscriptions.<\/p>\n The Washington Post laid off roughly one-third of its total staff<\/a> on Feb. 4, with the sports department taking the heaviest cuts. Post leadership eliminated the sports section entirely, moving a handful of reporters to the features department to cover sports \u201cas a cultural and societal phenomenon\u201d rather than covering games. Dozens of beat reporters, columnists, and investigative journalists lost their jobs<\/a>, including everyone who covered the Nationals<\/a>, Capitals<\/a>, Commanders<\/a>, and Wizards<\/a> on a daily basis.<\/p>\n