And what do the poor ink-stained wretches think the newest playboy of the western world will tell them, that his benighted management placeholders haven't already? "Our dear leader is losing too much pocket change and more importantly, his other business interests stand to lose as well. So we've decided to kiss some MAGA butt and encourage an authoritarian asshole. You can pucker up with us or bugger off. We love you and we may even miss you. This is a recording. To hear it again please press 1 on your keypad."
I'm glad they wrote this letter - it is NOT TOO LATE to turn this ship around and if I saw great evidence that the Post would be a reliable source of news and insight and not polluted by Trump fawning, I would re-subscribe in a heartbeat. Meanwhile, I see columnist Jennifer Rubin has left, and I'm not surprised.
But I don't want to just subscribe to a bunch of Substacks to read columnists (I mean, other than yours and a few others!). I want actual, reported NEWS. By working JOURNALISTS. Gawd.
Oh dear. I agree that it does no harm to write it, and it is good to write the truth for the future. Now this document exists and can go down in the history books that will be written about how someone destroyed the Washington Post. Otherwise, though, I'd assume it will have no effect at all, because he is a coward and has already fully collapsed for whatever motivation is driving him -- hopefully not just to make lots and lots of money, because nothing could be worth what he has done. I am so angry that he has put them into this no-win situation. This is a dignified response.
I suspect that at this point, Bezos would be happy to reduce the newsroom to the size of the PennySaver and produce a money-losing paper for 100 subscribers, for the sole purpose of making sure that Felonious Trump knows that Bezos has entirely submitted. In return, Elon will let him have a small part of NASA's business, and Amazon Web Services will get to be the platform for the entire US government.
This letter makess me want to weep. I realize that Jeff Bezos has other business interests but the fact hat everyone is bending the knee to His Orangeness isn't helping matters. No matter how much he's given, he wants more, so why start out by selling out?
One of his "other business interests" might be sports. Here in New England, we're waiting with trepidation to see whether rumors of his being interested buying the Boston Celtics are true. Red Sox owner John Henry probably hopes so -- that way, John would no longer be the most hated team owner in town.
I’m torn. We want to read a national newspaper and have read the WaPo for decades and the Evening Star prior back into the mid 1950’s (delivered)
We need to read a national newspaper but hate what Bezos has done to it
How to read it yet not support the oligarchs?
I seriously like Quelcrist Falconer’s quote, loosely here.
“When someone says it not personal it’s just business, make it personal, as personal as a heart attack, as that’s the only way you will be taken seriously…..”
After cancelling my $170 per year WaPo subscription, I re-upped after they offered a subscription at $2 per month. I still get to read the work of good reporters and columnists while causing Bozos [sic] to lose money on me. The Post can not improve until Bozos sells it.
I’ve started subscribing to Substack publications as a middle finger to people like Bezos. I’m more likely to get real news from them than I am from The Post. It’s sad that this is happening to a once great newspaper.
Wow. Wonder who is next out the door?? On a positive note, we know Bezos will be in DC on 20 Jan. Wonder if he will take time out of his busy GOP schmooze fest to meet with the WaPo staff
Regarding the passage “… and with more departures imminent” in the letter to Bezos: that's no surprise to me. I suspect some WaPo staff began looking for other employment after Bezos spiked the Harris endorsement, and that many more staff have begun searching for new jobs after Ann Telnaes resigned. Best of luck with your job searches, WaPo staff. Finding a new position that pays well will be very difficult.
As Jon Ketzner notes, the business model that supported newspapers for decades no longer works. Thank Craigslist, Meta, and YouTube for that. I could use some of Jon's equanimity during whatever time I have left. I can't seem to back down from outrage, but I don't know how that rage can be channeled into something constructive. I keep running up against the immovable object: the stupidity of my fellow humans. Ever time I think people can't get any more stupid, they surprise me. Maybe I'll spend my time and energy creating a 2025 Appendix to The Devil's Dictionary. I don't think Ambrose Bierce will mind.
Interesting that they imply that it was the owner who made the choice on the presidential non-endorsement. I believe the WashPot has been saying it was publisher Will Lewis's call, or that it was a joint decision of Lewis and Bezo. In short, the letter lays that decision all on Bezos...which is certainly the truth.
I might have worded that part a bit differently, e.g. "It is the owner's choice to break with our longstanding tradition to have the paper endorse the candidate that we as professional editorial staff, believe is the better choice. And this year, that choice could not have been easier for us to make...but hey, like we said, you're the bizillionaire owner who can tape our mouths shut whenever you want.
Interesting. My WaPo subscription doesn't run out for a couple weeks, so I posted this comment (slightly different versions of the preamble) in 4 different articles. I just checked my comment history and they are all gone.
--------------------------------
In other news, multiple outlets are reporting that about 400 WaPo staffers sent a letter to Bezos asking him to meet. According to CNN..."The letter, obtained by CNN on Wednesday, said “we are deeply alarmed by recent leadership decisions that have led readers to question the integrity of this institution, broken with a tradition of transparency, and prompted some of our most distinguished colleagues to leave, with more departures imminent.”
I guess the moderators (or whoever programs the moderator bot) didn't like the numerous comment threads over multiple articles talking about the cartoon situation and Rubin leaving and decided to quash the newest anti bezos fodder. Just guessing, but it seriously didn't take long for them to disappear.
And what do the poor ink-stained wretches think the newest playboy of the western world will tell them, that his benighted management placeholders haven't already? "Our dear leader is losing too much pocket change and more importantly, his other business interests stand to lose as well. So we've decided to kiss some MAGA butt and encourage an authoritarian asshole. You can pucker up with us or bugger off. We love you and we may even miss you. This is a recording. To hear it again please press 1 on your keypad."
I'm glad they wrote this letter - it is NOT TOO LATE to turn this ship around and if I saw great evidence that the Post would be a reliable source of news and insight and not polluted by Trump fawning, I would re-subscribe in a heartbeat. Meanwhile, I see columnist Jennifer Rubin has left, and I'm not surprised.
But I don't want to just subscribe to a bunch of Substacks to read columnists (I mean, other than yours and a few others!). I want actual, reported NEWS. By working JOURNALISTS. Gawd.
Oh dear. I agree that it does no harm to write it, and it is good to write the truth for the future. Now this document exists and can go down in the history books that will be written about how someone destroyed the Washington Post. Otherwise, though, I'd assume it will have no effect at all, because he is a coward and has already fully collapsed for whatever motivation is driving him -- hopefully not just to make lots and lots of money, because nothing could be worth what he has done. I am so angry that he has put them into this no-win situation. This is a dignified response.
Did Carolyn Hax sign it? She is literally the only reason I still read WaPo.
After subscribing for fifty years, it has come to this.
I suspect that at this point, Bezos would be happy to reduce the newsroom to the size of the PennySaver and produce a money-losing paper for 100 subscribers, for the sole purpose of making sure that Felonious Trump knows that Bezos has entirely submitted. In return, Elon will let him have a small part of NASA's business, and Amazon Web Services will get to be the platform for the entire US government.
Sad but probably true.
This letter makess me want to weep. I realize that Jeff Bezos has other business interests but the fact hat everyone is bending the knee to His Orangeness isn't helping matters. No matter how much he's given, he wants more, so why start out by selling out?
One of his "other business interests" might be sports. Here in New England, we're waiting with trepidation to see whether rumors of his being interested buying the Boston Celtics are true. Red Sox owner John Henry probably hopes so -- that way, John would no longer be the most hated team owner in town.
Would you kindly think about how your title might have been interpreted by someone with the same first name when received in an email.
Sheesh, I thought you were finally tossing me out of the group.
Only if you ask nicely....
Feeling guilty are you?
I reacted the same way.
I’m torn. We want to read a national newspaper and have read the WaPo for decades and the Evening Star prior back into the mid 1950’s (delivered)
We need to read a national newspaper but hate what Bezos has done to it
How to read it yet not support the oligarchs?
I seriously like Quelcrist Falconer’s quote, loosely here.
“When someone says it not personal it’s just business, make it personal, as personal as a heart attack, as that’s the only way you will be taken seriously…..”
More & more folks seem leaning that way
After cancelling my $170 per year WaPo subscription, I re-upped after they offered a subscription at $2 per month. I still get to read the work of good reporters and columnists while causing Bozos [sic] to lose money on me. The Post can not improve until Bozos sells it.
I’ve started subscribing to Substack publications as a middle finger to people like Bezos. I’m more likely to get real news from them than I am from The Post. It’s sad that this is happening to a once great newspaper.
Will Jeff reply, "Mind your own Bezos"?
Wow. Wonder who is next out the door?? On a positive note, we know Bezos will be in DC on 20 Jan. Wonder if he will take time out of his busy GOP schmooze fest to meet with the WaPo staff
Regarding the passage “… and with more departures imminent” in the letter to Bezos: that's no surprise to me. I suspect some WaPo staff began looking for other employment after Bezos spiked the Harris endorsement, and that many more staff have begun searching for new jobs after Ann Telnaes resigned. Best of luck with your job searches, WaPo staff. Finding a new position that pays well will be very difficult.
As Jon Ketzner notes, the business model that supported newspapers for decades no longer works. Thank Craigslist, Meta, and YouTube for that. I could use some of Jon's equanimity during whatever time I have left. I can't seem to back down from outrage, but I don't know how that rage can be channeled into something constructive. I keep running up against the immovable object: the stupidity of my fellow humans. Ever time I think people can't get any more stupid, they surprise me. Maybe I'll spend my time and energy creating a 2025 Appendix to The Devil's Dictionary. I don't think Ambrose Bierce will mind.
Interesting that they imply that it was the owner who made the choice on the presidential non-endorsement. I believe the WashPot has been saying it was publisher Will Lewis's call, or that it was a joint decision of Lewis and Bezo. In short, the letter lays that decision all on Bezos...which is certainly the truth.
I might have worded that part a bit differently, e.g. "It is the owner's choice to break with our longstanding tradition to have the paper endorse the candidate that we as professional editorial staff, believe is the better choice. And this year, that choice could not have been easier for us to make...but hey, like we said, you're the bizillionaire owner who can tape our mouths shut whenever you want.
They already stated that they won't be covering stories about themselves. So, no.
Whattaya think will happen if they win some Pulitzers? Will they write about THAT?
Now you're making my head hurt.
Interesting. My WaPo subscription doesn't run out for a couple weeks, so I posted this comment (slightly different versions of the preamble) in 4 different articles. I just checked my comment history and they are all gone.
--------------------------------
In other news, multiple outlets are reporting that about 400 WaPo staffers sent a letter to Bezos asking him to meet. According to CNN..."The letter, obtained by CNN on Wednesday, said “we are deeply alarmed by recent leadership decisions that have led readers to question the integrity of this institution, broken with a tradition of transparency, and prompted some of our most distinguished colleagues to leave, with more departures imminent.”
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/15/media/washington-post-jeff-bezos-letter/index.html
WOW.
I guess the moderators (or whoever programs the moderator bot) didn't like the numerous comment threads over multiple articles talking about the cartoon situation and Rubin leaving and decided to quash the newest anti bezos fodder. Just guessing, but it seriously didn't take long for them to disappear.
Woeful censorship of comments.
I wonder if the content moderation software is focusing on the CNN link.