What the Media Is Snacking On

It might be a turbulent time for the news-biz, but the media hasn't altogether abandoned perks for its employees, and after surveying the snack offering in newsrooms, tasty treats can say a lot about a company's priorities.

It might be a turbulent time for the news-biz, but the media hasn't altogether abandoned perks for its employees, and after surveying the snack offering in newsrooms, tasty treats can say a lot about a company's priorities. At the very least, almost all media organizations offer coffee. But on the other side of the spectrum, there is so much more. Journalists, like soldiers, travel on their stomachs.

Of course, this list is by no means complete. Have more photos to share? Send them to us!

Bloomberg and Bloomberg Businessweek

Things are booming over at Bloomberg and since the company acquired Businessweek, the magazine has seen a 65.3 percent increase in ad revenue. It's no surprise then that its pantry rules, as you can see below. No, that is not a cafeteria: It's an all gratis food situation on the 6th floor of their Lexington Ave offices in New York City. Bloomberg apparently forbids photos in the building -- so we had to hunt down these top secret snack spy photos. But for a full on mouth drool experience see here, here and here.

The Daily Beast / Newsweek

It's unclear if things are shaky or going well over at Newsbeast. But the food-related perks remain phenomenal. Some might argue that the snackage correlates with good news. Just last week Tina Brown and her Beast  celebrated record breaking traffic. But, let's remember, that came just after a staff shakeup and general uncertainty about the company's financial standing. In any case, TDB isn't suffering enough to skimp on the snacks. As you can see below, the company offers fridges full of drinks, fruit, chips, candy, granola bars and, we hear, individually wrapped Swedish Fish. Our source also mentioned a Friday morning bagel ritual.

Gawker Media

After this year's redesign, many doubted Gawker's future. It took until October for Gawker to reach its pre-design page views, and those numbers are up for debate. But as for food: Gawker offers its employees free lunch Thursdays (pictured below) and free breakfast Wednesdays. We also hear that they have the "standard" coffee, espresso and seltzer.

The New York Observer

A few years ago the Observer wasn't doing too well with layoffs and budget cuts. And apparently, Jared Kushner's reign and determination to turn the paper around hasn't quite worked, reported AdWeek last February. Staffers work for low salaries and the mission has changed from "journalistically oriented" to a sales focused organization, leading to conflicts between the business and editorial staffs, wrote Dylan Byers. But among the turmoil, the media company is doing okay enough to offer pretzels, coffee and free Patzeria pizza on Tuesday closing nights.

The Atlantic Media Company

They say our beloved media company is doing pretty well these days, making money and seeing digital overtake print revenues. And the eats aren't too sparse. To keep it up, the powers that be are making sure we're well hydrated with a soda machine, coffee, tea and hot cocoa. One sad lament: back in the day there once was a popcorn machine.

Mediaite

The blog conglomerate seems to be growing, adding new sites, The Jane Dough and Mary Sue just this year, and reporting record traffic growth. The small staff gets unlimited Diet Coke and a rotating candy assortment. Today: Twizzlers.

Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones/News Corp

One would think that its successful paywall would afford WSJ reporters more than Flavia coffee.

The Week

Profitable and growing, The Week gives its staff a Keurig machine. We also hear that they have free lunch Fridays and a biweekly beer cart. Not bad.

Slate

Not doing so well, Slate laid off a bunch of its big name writers at the end of this summer. We hear there used to be more snacks, too. But now, it's just a bunch of different types of coffee and tea.

The Washington Post

There's no free lunch lunch (or coffee) at The Post. See that little sign in the upper-right hand corner of the photo? Even coffee costs $1.00. Not too surprising considering the company reported $6.2 million in loss in Q3 of 2011, a 50 percent drop in profits and closed all of its regional bureaus except for those in Annapolis and Virgina. The Post is clearly in cutback mode. But they do have the same cappuccino machines as The Wall Street Journal. Flavia may be fancier than a tub of Folgers, but it's probably not worth paying a buck for.