Washington Post Rolls Out Ominous New Slogan

The Washington Post has rolled out an ominous new slogan—"Democracy Dies in Darkness." The phrase, one of Bob Woodward's favorites, now appears under the paper's logo on its home page and might be introduced to the print version in the weeks to come. Shani George, the Post's communications director, tells CBS News that the slogan offers a "good, concise value statement" to new readers on Snapchat and other platforms. The move has been met with general hilarity among other members of the media, the Hill reports. A roundup of reactions:

• On the Late Show, Stephen Colbert quipped that Trump will only see the "goth phase" motto if it's mentioned on Fox, Deadline reports. He said the slogan beat other choices such as "No, You Shut Up!"

• "Excited to announce our new HuffPost slogan: The Night is Dark and Full of Terrors," tweeted Huffington Post politics editor Igor Bobic.
• Commentary magazine editor John Podhoretz poked fun at Post owner Jeff Bezos with his suggested slogan: "Democracy Dies in Darkness But I Got This Cute Little Night-Light at Amazon for Just $4.99 and It's Free Shipping Because I Have Prime."
• Slate rounds up 15 classic metal albums with titles less dark than the new slogan, including "Welcome to Hell" and "Reign in Blood."
• Michael McGough at the Los Angeles Times looks at the history of newspaper slogans. His favorite is the revised version of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's "One of America's Best Newspapers," which PJ O'Rourke used for the fictional Dacron Republican-Democrat: "One of America's Newspapers."
• Fox News reports that the Post denies the motto is a reaction to Trump's criticism of the paper and the media in general as "enemies of the people."
• The Blaze pulls together more mockery of the "melodramatic" slogan, including the suggestion of "Postseason Hopes Also Die in Darkness" for the Post's coverage of DC sports teams.

(More Washington Post stories.)