What Bezos wants - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
The Washington Post reportedly lost 75,000 digital subscribers last week after owner Jeff Bezos’ note announcing changes to his newspaper’s opinion pages. Opinions editor David Shipley immediately resigned after Bezos said he only wanted the paper to publish op-eds that promoted ‘personal liberties’ and ‘a free market’. Last year, the paper reportedly lost 300,000 subscriptions when Bezos withdrew the paper’s endorsement of Kamala Harris as president.
The Evolution of The Washington Post
This is a far cry from 2016 when the paper adopted the rather cringe-worthy motto ‘Democracy Dies in Darkness’ and took an aggressive stance against Donald Trump. The paper’s opinion pages, which function separately from the news pages, took an adversarial position against Trump and profited from that. Most media commentators in the US say the paper produced stellar journalism “that illuminated the depths of Trump’s self-dealing”, wrote Slate. To be fair, Bezos profited from the paper’s then strategy.
Bezos' Changing Stance
A lot of things are unclear now, from what democracy will look like in the US under a second Trump era to the fate of left-leaning writers at The Washington Post whose owner seems to be pulling the plug on its motto. However, what is clear is that Bezos feels differently now. Opinions that oppose “[libertarian] pillars will be left to be published by others”, he wrote. How does it serve audiences if they’re only reading opinions that adhere to Bezos’ beliefs? The billionaire believes that in the age of the internet, there’s no need for newspapers to have “broad-based opinion sections that [seek] to cover all views”.
Impact on Journalism
However, the paper had lost 50 per cent of its audience in 2020 — ostensibly because democracy was not dying in darkness under Joe Biden — and then in 2023, losses of $77 million. It began culling jobs, which, of course, impacted the journalism the paper had come to be associated with. Bezos also made bad management decisions last year in the hope that the paper’s financial misfortunes would turn around.
The Future of The Washington Post
One look at how Bezos has been cosying up to President Trump and you get the full picture. Trump hailed Bezos’ decision not to endorse a presidential candidate last year. Amazon, which is owned by Bezos, gave $1m to Trump’s inaugural fund in December last year. He, along with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Tesla’s Elon Musk and Open AI’s Sam Altman, were also reported to have donated to that fund.
Making money and influencing media seem to go hand in hand. And should be a reality check for those who think billionaires owning news media is a good idea. In Pakistan, businessmen invest in channels and use it to win favours — all at the cost of journalism.
The Role of Media Owners
None of us here believe that media owners don’t bear any influence on their papers. If you’re lucky, some exert less influence than others and you have a newspaper product that holds the powerful to account.
A free press is essential all over the world, especially when trust in media is on the rapid decline. The answers lie in robust public media which serves the people first.
