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William Lindsey :toad:

"On Wednesday, Amazon founder, billionaire, Washington Post owner, and newfound Trump supplicant Jeff Bezos made an announcement that shook the media world and heralded the death of corporate media. ...

We should have known this day was coming the moment Bezos bought the paper. Corporate-owned media is doomed to fail."

~ Dan Pfeiffer


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messageboxnews.com/p/jeff-bezo

The Message Box · Jeff Bezos Makes a Damning Case Against Corporate MediaBy Dan Pfeiffer
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William Lindsey :toad:

"The problem is much bigger than the Washington Post. Ultimately, Jeff Bezos’s behavior speaks to the irreconcilable tension of a journalistic enterprise owned by a person or corporation with multiple interests before the government."


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Public
William Lindsey :toad:

Former senior editor Cameron Barr on why he's ending his connection to WaPo:

"The Washington Post in my lifetime has always held power to account. It has been an independent newspaper, to cite the longstanding motto on the editorial page, dedicated to the truth-telling and journalistic rigor that sustains and strengthens American democracy. I have sadly concluded that The Post is retreating from this mission."


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linkedin.com/posts/cameron-bar

www.linkedin.comToday I am ending my professional association with The Washington Post… | Cameron Barr | 243 comments Today I am ending my professional association with The Washington Post. Since my decision to step down as senior managing editor in 2023, I have been privileged to work on contract as a senior associate editor, helping to oversee investigative projects and undertaking other tasks at the behest of Executive Editor Sally Buzbee and her successor, Matt Murray. The news today that Jeff Bezos has decided that The Post’s editorial page should stand only for certain views represents an unacceptable erosion of its commitment to publishing a healthy diversity of opinion and argument. His decision not to endorse a candidate eleven days before the last presidential election was an abdication of journalistic responsibility. His public expression congratulating Donald Trump and his prominent presence at the inauguration indicated to me that he is unwilling to maintain the discretion incumbent upon the owner of an institution as important as The Post. The Washington Post in my lifetime has always held power to account. It has been an independent newspaper, to cite the longstanding motto on the editorial page, dedicated to the truth-telling and journalistic rigor that sustains and strengthens American democracy. I have sadly concluded that The Post is retreating from this mission.  | 243 comments on LinkedIn
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William Lindsey :toad:

Senior assignment editor Amanda Katz:

"An absolute abandonment of the principles of accountability of the powerful, justice, democracy, human rights, and accurate information that previously animated the section in favor of a white male billionaire’s self-interested agenda."


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bsky.app/profile/katzish.bsky.

Bluesky Social · Amanda Katz (@katzish.bsky.social)RIP, WaPo. Just the saddest screenshots to get. An absolute abandonment of the principles of accountability of the powerful, justice, democracy, human rights, and accurate information that previously animated the section in favor of a white male billionaire’s self-interested agenda.
Public
William Lindsey :toad:

"It’s all about getting on board with Trump, to whose inauguration Bezos – through Amazon, the company he co-founded – contributed a million dollars. That allowed him a prime seat, along with others of his oligarchical ilk."

~ Margaret Sullivan


/5

theguardian.com/commentisfree/

The Guardian · Jeff Bezos is muzzling the Washington Post’s opinion section. That’s a death knellBy Margaret Sullivan
Public
William Lindsey :toad:

Timothy Snyder mercilessly satirizes Bezos' fatuous, self-serving rationale for clamping down on Washingon Post's opinion section and taking control of it to serve Donald Trump:

"I am writing today in support and defense of personal liberties and free markets."

Snyder repeats this nonsense ad nauseam.


/7

snyder.substack.com/p/a-washin

Thinking about... · A Washington Post submissionBy Timothy Snyder
Public
William Lindsey :toad:

"Bezos knows he needs to curry favor with Trump to preserve access to federal contracts for his other companies.

But it’s actually worse than that: Bezos is refusing to take his own side—the side of American liberal democracy—in the fight against Trump’s autocracy. Simply put, he’s willing to sacrifice the Post’s integrity, and his own, for the bottom line."

~ Jonathan V. Last


/8

thebulwark.com/p/lets-talk-abo

The Bulwark · Let’s Talk About Courage and HonestyBy Jonathan V. Last
Public
William Lindsey :toad:

"A key moment in Hungary’s slide to autocracy was the purchase of major news outlets by wealthy allies of Orbán. The dynamics are obviously different here, but Fox, X, and now the Washington Post."

~ Tabatha Abu El-Haj


/9

electionlawblog.org/?p=148758

Public
William Lindsey :toad:

"Say what you will about Bezos. But don’t fail to recognize that he is a savvy oligarch who—like his seat mate at Donald Trump’s inauguration, No. 1 billionaire Elon Musk—understands that information and ideas are valuable commodities, which can be manipulated to decide the direction of even quasi-democratic states."

~ John Nichols


/10

thenation.com/article/society/

The Nation · Democracy Dies at “The Washington Post”…and oligarchy lives.
Public
William Lindsey :toad:

"Bezos knows that if voters are too aware of rampant inequality and what historian Timothy Snyder refers to as 'the bait-and-switch' fraud of shadow president Musk’s Robin-Hood-in-reverse (take from the poor, give to the rich) restructuring of federal priorities, they might be inclined to reject the path of plutocracy."


/11

Public
William Lindsey :toad:

"So Bezos has decided to put his thumb on the scales of the debate, as the owner of one of the most identifiable, and historically influential, newspapers in the United States.


/12

William Lindsey :toad:

As Michael Hanfeld says today in the Frankfurter Allegemeine, when Bezos says he wants Washington Post to maximize freedom, what he's really saying is that he is going to dictate that the paper sing the song of the super-rich owning class that has allied itself with Trump.

Some freedom.


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faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/med

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung · Jeff Bezos ruiniert die „Washington Post“ und die Demokratie gleich mitBy Michael Hanfeld
Feb 27, 2025, 11:50 PM·Public·Web
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