(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Tell Jeff Bezos about your issues with the WaPo ! [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-08 I’ve only been a Washington Post subscriber for a few years, but I have generally enjoyed most of their news coverage over that time. I’m very much enjoying reading Jennifer Rubin and Dana Milbank and their other liberal columnists, Philip Bump seems to be doing a lot of good work in the news sections, I’d like to support those writers and those efforts. Yet of course I am horrified by all the news coming out of their editorial shakeups, and I absolutely do not want to support what Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo has been reporting (mostly in their paywalled section). For example, here Marshall is presenting another media business reporter’s take (Dylan Byers at Puck) on what the newly hired ex-Murdoch editors are thinking. The first is that the British newspaper execs have “swagger” and the current Post lacks “swagger” and needs it desperately. Buzbee is a fine editor but lacks “swagger.” … The second is that the Biden era is boring — “somnolent,” as he puts it — and lacks the “go-go” excitement of the Trump era. This is simply not a journalist’s perspective on the American media in recent years. This is the perspective of a Murdoch propagandist who is very happy writing up propaganda for those who are paying for it. (Marshall’s paywalled posts in this series, and the Peters article I’m linking below, have lots of background on the economics of the news industry in general and the recent Wapo history.) This is thoroughly repulsive attitude in a news business’s management, and this news junkie and amateur historian will not accept it. I want real, ethical journalists, who understand that “swagger” is not a positive addition to any serious news reporting. For almost fifty years I’ve had good results from many businesses that I’ve been dissatisfied with, by finding a name and address or phone number of the big boss, and writing or calling directly to them. It’s not guaranteed, but in my most recent examples I can say that T-Mobile’s CEO responded very well and gave a special deal, while Airbnb’s CEO mailbox does not seem to care or to communicate with any part of their own operation. So I did look up Amazon’s data in an investment-advice service (that I’m not supposed to quote directly), Bezos is NOT the CEO of Amazon, but is listed as “Executive Director”, and he owns about 10% of the stock. So I called the phone number for Amazon headquarters, and told the receptionist that I would like to leave a message for Executive Director Bezos. I received the following address to send mail to Executive Director Bezos: Attn: Executive Director Bezos Operations Dept. , Amazon.com P.O. Box 87226 Seattle WA 98108 My letter will be in the mail Monday morning, and I will also be sending emails to various WaPo email addresses in their contact information. I’m going to be relying on a long article by Justin Peters in today’s Slate, which basically stresses the point that Bezos is really only there for his money, and that the financial losses at WaPo are only like 0.04% of Bezos’s wealth, that’s four one-hundredths of one percent, or 4 dollars out of every $10,000 that Bezos owns. He could subsidize that forever if he actually wanted a newspaper that would work to uphold democracy. This also ties in to one of Josh Marshall’s comments, in which a reader discusses the “bored billionaire syndrome” of financial titans trying to rescue newspapers, but who then become “bored” when they can’t re-structure the news market by themselves, and then resort to half-baked ideas (like “swagger”) before finally selling the business off. My subscription does come up for renewal at the end of June, and I can’t really afford $120., I’m not sure what I’m going to do. Other angry readers are reporting that they are being offered half-price or lower rates when they cancel, I might go for that because I am news junkie who wants my liberal silos thru the election, but if those good writers start bailing and the new Murdoch-trained editors are clearly trying their best to “both-sides” election news, I will be out. It is very repulsive to me that the new head manager Lewis is a longtime Murdoch manager, who was apparently involved in deleting files in an investigation of phone-hacking by sleazy Murdoch journalists – but he says “I’m just not going to discuss that.” That is not the attitude of a journalist, that is the attitude of a propaganda manager. And nobody should be reading the Washington Post if he is trying to transform it into the New York Post. So get your letters into Bezos, let’s see if we can have a news operation that actually promotes the truth and calls out the Republican lies and propaganda. I’ve got lots of other tasks to be doing for my family, I’ll be checking in for your comments later in my West Coast evening. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/8/2245594/-Tell-Jeff-Bezos-about-your-issues-with-the-WaPo?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/