• by Erik Sass , August 6, 2007

And the hits keep on coming. The Washington Post Company is the latest newspaper publisher to get smacked, with earnings falling 13% in the second quarter of 2007, due mostly to a 7% decline in revenue at its flagship newspaper. The Washington Post earnings results, delivered Friday, round out a second quarter that was bad for newspapers across the board.

The slide in newspaper revenues offset increased revenues at the company's growing educational publishing division and cable television operations. The educational division enjoyed 14% revenue growth compared to the second quarter of 2006, to $503.5 million, while cable revenues rose 9% to $154.4 million. Revenue was essentially flat at the company's broadcast TV operations, sliding 1% to $87 million.

The gains in educational publishing and cable couldn't make up for advertising revenue declines at The Washington Post, however. Overall, revenue fell 7% to $227.9 million--largely because of a 13% decline in ad revenues, which ended at $128.4 million. Like other newspaper publishers, the newspaper blamed weakness in national, retail, and classified advertising. Within the classified category, recruitment led declines with a 22% drop, to $13.2 million.

Again, like other newspaper publishers, online revenues are a bright spot at The Washington Post, growing 11% to $28.2 million in the second quarter. However, this figure may be cause for alarm in itself, as it represents a significant slowdown from the company's 36% growth rate in the second quarter of 2006. The rate of growth slowed both in percentage and absolute dollar terms--falling from $6.6 million in 2006 to just $2.9 million in 2005.