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Legacy media isn’t collapsing because digital exists.
It’s struggling because it’s trying to sell digital services it wasn’t built to deliver.

Newsrooms are shrinking. Journalists are being laid off. Entire sections are disappearing. At the same time, many historic media brands are expanding into SEO, website development, social media management, and digital advertising.

The question is simple:

Does a 100-year-old reputation automatically translate into digital competence?

In this episode of Over The Bull, Ken Carroll breaks down:
•The structural decline in newsroom employment
•The pivot from journalism to digital sales
•Why brand equity is being used as a substitute for operational capability
•The difference between selling digital and actually executing digital

This isn’t an attack on journalism.
It’s an examination of misalignment — systems built for one era attempting to monetize another.

History built trust.
But trust alone doesn’t produce measurable results.

If you’re a business owner evaluating digital services, this episode will help you separate reputation from real execution.

SOURCES:

Washington Post cuts a third of its staff: https://apnews.com/article/923f87d4bd319c8a64b278165d0a6e27

U.S. newsroom employment has fallen 26% since 2008 (Pew Research Center): https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/07/13/u-s-newsroom-employment-has-fallen-26-since-2008/

Media Layoffs & Employment (Pew Research Center topic page): https://www.pewresearch.org/topic/news-habits-media/news-media-trends/media-industry/media-layoffs-employment/

US Newsroom Staffing Has Dropped 26% in 12 Years (TheWrap summary of Pew data): https://www.thewrap.com/us-newsroom-staffing-has-dropped-26-in-12-years-research-shows/

Newspaper newsroom employment fell 57% since 2008 (Pew data summary): https://mustreadalaska.com/newspaper-newsrooms-have-shed-57-jobs-since-2008/

Washington Post layoffs continued criticism and context (The Guardian): https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/feb/06/bob-woodward-washington-post-layoffs

Mass layoffs at The Washington Post reported internationally (Le Monde): https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/02/05/the-washington-post-legendary-american-daily-is-shaken-by-mass-layoffs_6750173_4.html

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This show breaks down the unglamorous marketing systems that actually work—structured websites, schema, local signals, consistency, and momentum over time. No hacks. No trends. No dopamine marketing.

Each episode explains why boring, repeatable actions compound, how businesses accidentally reset their own progress, and what to build if you want growth that doesn’t collapse when the campaign ends.

If you’re tired of starting over, this is for you.

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