Document and Entity Information	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2014	May 02, 2014 Class A Common Stock [Member]	May 02, 2014 Class B Common Stock [Member]
Document Type	10-Q
Amendment Flag	false
Document Period End Date	Mar. 31, 2014
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2014
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q1
Trading Symbol	ghc
Entity Registrant Name	GRAHAM HOLDINGS CO
Entity Central Index Key	0000104889
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Entity Filer Category	Large Accelerated Filer
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding		1,169,073	6,236,106