Thanks to its cable and education businesses, the third-quarter profit of the Washington Post Co. jumped 69 percent.
The good news would have been better if not for the fortunes of the newspaper division, which includes the flagship Washington Post plus some lesser-known papers.

Recessionary times are all about relativity. Beancounters take a look at the biz climate and decide just how big of a hit the organization is going to take. We estimate that sales will be off 20 percent from the same period last year—that's how the exercise goes.

The Washington Post's Free for All section, published each Saturday, generally features commentary and sniping by some of the most sophisticated consumers of news anywhere. People contrive humorous jabs at the paper's beleaguered copy desk, question front-page display decisions, and quibble about everything.
One recent "Free for All" complaint has stuck with me for a [...]