Everyone, please comment on Bezos' piece in WaPo!

[Anonymous]

For me - a billionaire prohibiting an editorial board of a media company from printing an endorsement they prepared (as they have for many years - they did not suddenly go rogue to do it) does not lead me to have more trust in that media company nor does it suggest to me to expect less bias.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Self-serving twaddle. Bezos simply didn't want to get on Trump's bad side and tried to split the baby.

We, as consumers of news, get what we tolerate, especially in this era of corporate media. I cancelled, after having read the paper all my life.

Cancellation is counterproductive.

Unless, of course, you want Fox News/CNN style "journalism" to capture a larger market share. Talk about "twaddle".

WaPo is wildly imperfect. It's also among the very best daily reporting available.

I loathe Trump and I will absolutely, positively continue to subscribe to the Post.

We get the media we tolerate. Acquiescing simply continues the cycle.

[Anonymous]

Anyone else see WaPo’s TiK Tok account? They did a skit making fun of Bezos. Their staff is amazing and not taking this lightly.

[Anonymous]

Cancelling Amazon accounts is probably more directly effective than cancelling WaPo - this will directly impact the journalists working there. when in reality the issue is Bezos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For me - a billionaire prohibiting an editorial board of a media company from printing an endorsement they prepared (as they have for many years - they did not suddenly go rogue to do it) does not lead me to have more trust in that media company nor does it suggest to me to expect less bias.

It actually makes me distrust the media more, which I assume Bezos may want to manipulate me into doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ditching the post isn’t enough.
If you really care- you have to stop using Amazon.
If you actually want to send a message - you have to not use AMAZON

And stop utilizing any and all government services since many of those rely upon and use AWS. Gettum where it hurts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I canceled my subscription already and am not changing my mind. Bezos trying to defend himself does influence my thoughts on the matter. In fact, its very existence is evidence of why I canceled - because Bezos controls the Post, and the Post no longer has any journalistic integrity.

of course you did. You mean to tell me you had a NEWSPAPER subscription in 2024??? Who subscribes to a newspaper in 2024???

Um, everyone? NP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For me - a billionaire prohibiting an editorial board of a media company from printing an endorsement they prepared (as they have for many years - they did not suddenly go rogue to do it) does not lead me to have more trust in that media company nor does it suggest to me to expect less bias.

The guy knows exactly when the editorial board of his vanity purchase is about to go to press, but is completely unaware of what executives at his other companies are doing. Does not pass the smell test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cancelling Amazon accounts is probably more directly effective than cancelling WaPo - this will directly impact the journalists working there. when in reality the issue is Bezos.

We can do both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else see WaPo’s TiK Tok account? They did a skit making fun of Bezos. Their staff is amazing and not taking this lightly.

Bezos should clean house and fire them all and rehire from the ground up taking a 50-50 split of left and right wing journalists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I canceled my subscription already and am not changing my mind. Bezos trying to defend himself does influence my thoughts on the matter. In fact, its very existence is evidence of why I canceled - because Bezos controls the Post, and the Post no longer has any journalistic integrity.

of course you did. You mean to tell me you had a NEWSPAPER subscription in 2024??? Who subscribes to a newspaper in 2024???

Um, everyone? NP

+1. Here's a tip upgrade from tiktok and actually pay to get some decent information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cancelling Amazon accounts is probably more directly effective than cancelling WaPo - this will directly impact the journalists working there. when in reality the issue is Bezos.

Except there will be no obvious tie between your Amazon prime cancellation and a message that Bezos shouldn’t diminish the Post for his own business ends. A subscription cancellation right now WILL send that message. Bezos can afford to lose the subscription revenue, but he has shown a recent unwillingness to run the Post at a loss of tens of millions of dollars per year.

He has shown us he is the wrong person to own the Post. He should sell it, and he’ll become convinced of that more quickly if it’s losing more money than before thanks to his meddling in the editorial product. You have to show him that that kind if meddling for his private ends will cost the Post readers and revenue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else see WaPo’s TiK Tok account? They did a skit making fun of Bezos. Their staff is amazing and not taking this lightly.

Then it will suck when they get laid off because of declining readership.

This is what all the hissy-fitting democrats want, so be it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Self-serving twaddle. Bezos simply didn't want to get on Trump's bad side and tried to split the baby.

We, as consumers of news, get what we tolerate, especially in this era of corporate media. I cancelled, after having read the paper all my life.

Cancellation is counterproductive.

Unless, of course, you want Fox News/CNN style "journalism" to capture a larger market share. Talk about "twaddle".

WaPo is wildly imperfect. It's also among the very best daily reporting available.

I loathe Trump and I will absolutely, positively continue to subscribe to the Post.

We get the media we tolerate. Acquiescing simply continues the cycle.

This assumes that whatever replaces our current media will be an improvement.

All evidence that I see indicates exactly the opposite.

Kill the Post? We'll end up with something far, far worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Self-serving twaddle. Bezos simply didn't want to get on Trump's bad side and tried to split the baby.

We, as consumers of news, get what we tolerate, especially in this era of corporate media. I cancelled, after having read the paper all my life.

Cancellation is counterproductive.

Unless, of course, you want Fox News/CNN style "journalism" to capture a larger market share. Talk about "twaddle".

WaPo is wildly imperfect. It's also among the very best daily reporting available.

I loathe Trump and I will absolutely, positively continue to subscribe to the Post.

WaPo does have good reporting and has had critical coverage of Democrats as well as Republicans. But this was clearly a major miscalculation by Bezos, with tremendously bad optics. They should have made that decision and made it clear early in the cycle, not days before the election. Also, it does seem like WaPo has not been entirely balanced - they went overboard regarding Biden's lousy debate performance while pulling their punches on Trump's consistently bizarre rally performances and that is also not reasonable or defensible. I stand by my assessment that if the Washington Post wants to lead the way, it needs to do better and this last-minute non-endorsement bomb was not the way to do that. And, it will have to work extra hard to regain those lost subscribers. Losing almost 10% of your subscribers in a matter of days is a major vote of no-confidence and should be a wake-up call for Bezos to not screw around like that.

PP.

I agree that the optics WRT timing are awful.

That said, I strongly believe it's essential to support the (few) sources of quality journalism that remain.

Canceling is a horrible idea.