Snyder on the WaPo

From the WSJ’s interview with Redskins owner Dan Snyder:

WSJ: In June you bought a radio station, WTEM, which is a very popular local sports station. There’s some concern among fans that it might become a propaganda tool for the Redskins. What do you say to that?

Mr. Snyder: It’s actually just the Washington Post. We have a problem in this marketplace with our local newspaper. There’s a monopoly. I have no problems saying that. They have been losing circulation by the droves, losing advertising by the pound load and they are desperate to create controversy. They had a Washington Post radio business at the time — it’s since gone out of business — that was a competitor. We did write them a letter saying obviously you’re a competitor, so don’t use your newspaper to affect the business. Other than them, you won’t find any of that type of talk.

[Note: Leonard Downie, Jr., The Washington Post's executive editor, denies that the Post's radio venture, which ended nearly a year ago, influenced the paper's coverage of the Redskins. "Our coverage is always independent of both outside interests … and independent of other businesses that the Washington Post owns," Mr. Downie said in a telephone interview. "Our readers expect that of us."]

Hat tip: Romenesko

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