Recently I read "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine and his observation here seems appropos:“The more men have to lose, the less willing are they to venture. The rich are in general slaves to fear, and submit to courtly power with the trembling duplicity of a Spaniel.”
Even so, not all wealthy people make these kinds of horrid choices. I'll forever be fascinated by what drives those differences.
"It sucks for people in the DMV" For anyone else who wondered why Dan was so worried about people in line at the Dept of Motor Vehicles, it's apparently also a nickname for the DC/Maryland/Virginia area.
I too am saddened by the demise of the WaPo. I was a loyal subscriber for the better part of 30 years. I stuck it out for a while as Bezos and Lewis did their worst. It was the Harris endorsement that finally made me drop my subscription. Democracy simply dies.
Dan’s not wrong—we have a huge problem with media in this country (and elsewhere) but—big picture—it’s a huge problem for democracy. It’s been said that in order for capitalism to be an acceptable economic system it must be accompanied by a robust and healthy democracy to keep it in check. The problem with that of course is that the beneficiaries of unbridled capitalism will always be motivated to undermine democratic institutions, i.e., news media organizations in pursuit of their own self interests. Bezos is a perfect example of this, among so many, unfortunately.
Very sad. Kate Graham must be spinning in her grave. I hope the departed talent of the Washington Post organize a new, successful and economically viable media company.
In a word, FUCK Jeff Bezos. When his epitaph is written, and it can’t happen soon enough, what will be featured most prominently is not his business success, but his “full and total” as Trump would put it, sell out to Donald Trump. 75 million would have saved a lot of those jobs at WAPO but Bezos chose to redirect it as tribute to the disgusting Melania Trump. Bezos and his ilk have all been unmasked as the spineless, unprincipled cowards they, in retrospect, always were. It took a 2nd Trump Administration to pull the masks fully off. I unsubscribed from the WAPO after the gutting of the opinion section. Then I resubscribed solely because I missed the estimable Ron Charles and his unparalleled book section. Now that is gone also and with it my subscription, never to return. I assume Bezos will be around long after Trump has expired. I hope with the benefit of distance and hindsight that his shame burns a hole through his soul, if he even has one.
This is a good overview of the Washington Post's decline, but it begs the question in one key respect: What do we do next? The success of the pro-democracy movement could partly depend on the strength of an independent media. Yet over the last decade the American newspaper business has fallen into an "existential crisis" -- once formidable dailies have been dying off at an alarming rate. This has resulted in an increasing number of news deserts.
As traditional news media have faded, we have seen the rise of "pink-slime journalism" -- which is fake partisan operations masquerading as real news outlets. One can find a few left-leaning examples, but the genre is largely dominated by right-wing operations.
Dan has talked about the importance of winning House and Senate seats in purple and red parts of the country; that could be increasingly difficult in news deserts mainly served by "local" pink slime along with ever-present national propaganda organs such as Fox News.
The bottom line: The Democrats need to stop ignoring media reform. It's not enough to invest in small-scale outlets such as Pod Save America -- we also need a strategy for building and supporting larger-scale media outlets. Media scholars have been researching this for a while but have largely been ignored by the political class. Continue to do so at your own risk.
Thanks Dan, what an awful story. I lived in DC for a few intervals in my life and always treasured my Washington Post. And I do believe that we need a great paper in the nation's capital, in addition to all the great independent news sources (like yours) I'm helping to support. I still dream that one day before it is truly too late, Bezos sells the paper for $1 to someone who has the will to revive it and care for it. Who in the world could convince him to do that?
Thank you, Dan, for writing this. I moved to DC thirty years ago, and raised a family here. The Post is our hometown paper. I kept my subscription longer than I should have, holding on even after Bezos spiked the Harris endorsement, because I couldn't imagine navigating my life in this city without the Post. But it's not the Post anymore. The Post is gone. Reading this, combined with Ashley Parker's moving piece in the Atlantic yesterday, underscore what this community--my community--has had robbed from them by Jeff Bezos. The news coming on the same day that the GOP House voted to gut DC's tax code (H.J.RES. 142, look it up) only underscores for me that no one is going to save DC except the people of DC, that nothing less than FULL STATEHOOD is the solution, and that America's democracy is weaker when we here in DC continue to be second-class citizens. I know I'm stretching this a bit beyond talking about modern American media, but my feelings are raw, and--in this moment--I can't help but feel it all as linked.
Dan, I understand your feelings about the Post. I had similar feelings about the Los Angeles times, a paper that was widely considered to be a first class paper when I was growing up. But, rich guys owning media companies has always been a problem. Think of William Randolph Hearst. In a way, I think it’s healthy to look at the current state of media as a good thing. Anyone with a phone can record and distribute information that traditional news outlets might shy away from. Progressive media is frustratingly small right now, but it is growing. In a nutshell, I’m glad we no longer rely on billionaires and people who work for billionaires to deliver our news. We the People have more agency than ever. We just need to act like it.
Thanks, Dan, for your usual spot-on commentary. I entered Georgetown in 1968, got a similar subscription offer from the Post and read it religiously every day. I had a front-row seat to Watergate and John Thompson. I had the good fortune to read Wilbon, Kornheiser and David Broder nearly every day. I confess not being entirely pessimistic about Bezos’ purchase of the paper. I thought, with all his billions, profits would cease to matter. He had sufficient resources to fund local news outlets in a hundred cities for decades, still leaving him with billions. I regret my foolishness. What a waste of space that man and his ilk are.
What Bezos has done to WaPo is disgraceful but unsurprising. It follows a long, long term trend of either right wing or right wing aligned billionaires buying and taking over news and media entities and turning them into, at best, partial propaganda arms of the GOP. A big majority of the places people get their news are now MAGA leaning.
I’m not sure what could be done to stop the bleeding barring a left leaning billionaire buying up what they can, but that seems unlikely.
I subscribed to the Post in 2016, in order to keep up with the political goings-on and to support independent media. I also subscribed to The New York Times. I kept both subscriptions through the Biden years, but when Bezos refused to endorse Kamala Harris, I was done with the Post. I cancelled my subscription immediately. I still have my NYT sub, but I often contemplate cancelling it as well. I get all of my news from non-corporate media these days. I don't even watch MS or whatever they are calling MSNBC these days. I stopped watching CNN when Anderson Cooper made his non-apology for its hosting that Trump ass-kissing festival...excuse me, I mean town hall. As much as my heart breaks for those who've lost their jobs, I wonder if the death of legacy media is a necessity because how many people still look to these outlets as being "reliable" and "honest" only to be fed garbage by their Trump-loyal owners? Bezos will have a seat next to Trump in hell.
Recently I read "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine and his observation here seems appropos:“The more men have to lose, the less willing are they to venture. The rich are in general slaves to fear, and submit to courtly power with the trembling duplicity of a Spaniel.”
Even so, not all wealthy people make these kinds of horrid choices. I'll forever be fascinated by what drives those differences.
"It sucks for people in the DMV" For anyone else who wondered why Dan was so worried about people in line at the Dept of Motor Vehicles, it's apparently also a nickname for the DC/Maryland/Virginia area.
Great piece. It is shameful what Bezos has done to the Post.
I too am saddened by the demise of the WaPo. I was a loyal subscriber for the better part of 30 years. I stuck it out for a while as Bezos and Lewis did their worst. It was the Harris endorsement that finally made me drop my subscription. Democracy simply dies.
Dan’s not wrong—we have a huge problem with media in this country (and elsewhere) but—big picture—it’s a huge problem for democracy. It’s been said that in order for capitalism to be an acceptable economic system it must be accompanied by a robust and healthy democracy to keep it in check. The problem with that of course is that the beneficiaries of unbridled capitalism will always be motivated to undermine democratic institutions, i.e., news media organizations in pursuit of their own self interests. Bezos is a perfect example of this, among so many, unfortunately.
This is one of the most tragic obituaries I’ve ever read.
Very sad. Kate Graham must be spinning in her grave. I hope the departed talent of the Washington Post organize a new, successful and economically viable media company.
In a word, FUCK Jeff Bezos. When his epitaph is written, and it can’t happen soon enough, what will be featured most prominently is not his business success, but his “full and total” as Trump would put it, sell out to Donald Trump. 75 million would have saved a lot of those jobs at WAPO but Bezos chose to redirect it as tribute to the disgusting Melania Trump. Bezos and his ilk have all been unmasked as the spineless, unprincipled cowards they, in retrospect, always were. It took a 2nd Trump Administration to pull the masks fully off. I unsubscribed from the WAPO after the gutting of the opinion section. Then I resubscribed solely because I missed the estimable Ron Charles and his unparalleled book section. Now that is gone also and with it my subscription, never to return. I assume Bezos will be around long after Trump has expired. I hope with the benefit of distance and hindsight that his shame burns a hole through his soul, if he even has one.
This is a good overview of the Washington Post's decline, but it begs the question in one key respect: What do we do next? The success of the pro-democracy movement could partly depend on the strength of an independent media. Yet over the last decade the American newspaper business has fallen into an "existential crisis" -- once formidable dailies have been dying off at an alarming rate. This has resulted in an increasing number of news deserts.
As traditional news media have faded, we have seen the rise of "pink-slime journalism" -- which is fake partisan operations masquerading as real news outlets. One can find a few left-leaning examples, but the genre is largely dominated by right-wing operations.
Dan has talked about the importance of winning House and Senate seats in purple and red parts of the country; that could be increasingly difficult in news deserts mainly served by "local" pink slime along with ever-present national propaganda organs such as Fox News.
The bottom line: The Democrats need to stop ignoring media reform. It's not enough to invest in small-scale outlets such as Pod Save America -- we also need a strategy for building and supporting larger-scale media outlets. Media scholars have been researching this for a while but have largely been ignored by the political class. Continue to do so at your own risk.
Thanks Dan, what an awful story. I lived in DC for a few intervals in my life and always treasured my Washington Post. And I do believe that we need a great paper in the nation's capital, in addition to all the great independent news sources (like yours) I'm helping to support. I still dream that one day before it is truly too late, Bezos sells the paper for $1 to someone who has the will to revive it and care for it. Who in the world could convince him to do that?
Oh, and now's a great time to boost "The 51st"! (https://51st.news/) Join the new media revolution!
Thank you, Dan, for writing this. I moved to DC thirty years ago, and raised a family here. The Post is our hometown paper. I kept my subscription longer than I should have, holding on even after Bezos spiked the Harris endorsement, because I couldn't imagine navigating my life in this city without the Post. But it's not the Post anymore. The Post is gone. Reading this, combined with Ashley Parker's moving piece in the Atlantic yesterday, underscore what this community--my community--has had robbed from them by Jeff Bezos. The news coming on the same day that the GOP House voted to gut DC's tax code (H.J.RES. 142, look it up) only underscores for me that no one is going to save DC except the people of DC, that nothing less than FULL STATEHOOD is the solution, and that America's democracy is weaker when we here in DC continue to be second-class citizens. I know I'm stretching this a bit beyond talking about modern American media, but my feelings are raw, and--in this moment--I can't help but feel it all as linked.
Dan, I understand your feelings about the Post. I had similar feelings about the Los Angeles times, a paper that was widely considered to be a first class paper when I was growing up. But, rich guys owning media companies has always been a problem. Think of William Randolph Hearst. In a way, I think it’s healthy to look at the current state of media as a good thing. Anyone with a phone can record and distribute information that traditional news outlets might shy away from. Progressive media is frustratingly small right now, but it is growing. In a nutshell, I’m glad we no longer rely on billionaires and people who work for billionaires to deliver our news. We the People have more agency than ever. We just need to act like it.
Thanks, Dan, for your usual spot-on commentary. I entered Georgetown in 1968, got a similar subscription offer from the Post and read it religiously every day. I had a front-row seat to Watergate and John Thompson. I had the good fortune to read Wilbon, Kornheiser and David Broder nearly every day. I confess not being entirely pessimistic about Bezos’ purchase of the paper. I thought, with all his billions, profits would cease to matter. He had sufficient resources to fund local news outlets in a hundred cities for decades, still leaving him with billions. I regret my foolishness. What a waste of space that man and his ilk are.
Hoya Saxa.
What Bezos has done to WaPo is disgraceful but unsurprising. It follows a long, long term trend of either right wing or right wing aligned billionaires buying and taking over news and media entities and turning them into, at best, partial propaganda arms of the GOP. A big majority of the places people get their news are now MAGA leaning.
I’m not sure what could be done to stop the bleeding barring a left leaning billionaire buying up what they can, but that seems unlikely.
It’s all pretty depressing.
I subscribed to the Post in 2016, in order to keep up with the political goings-on and to support independent media. I also subscribed to The New York Times. I kept both subscriptions through the Biden years, but when Bezos refused to endorse Kamala Harris, I was done with the Post. I cancelled my subscription immediately. I still have my NYT sub, but I often contemplate cancelling it as well. I get all of my news from non-corporate media these days. I don't even watch MS or whatever they are calling MSNBC these days. I stopped watching CNN when Anderson Cooper made his non-apology for its hosting that Trump ass-kissing festival...excuse me, I mean town hall. As much as my heart breaks for those who've lost their jobs, I wonder if the death of legacy media is a necessity because how many people still look to these outlets as being "reliable" and "honest" only to be fed garbage by their Trump-loyal owners? Bezos will have a seat next to Trump in hell.