Bezos destroyed Washington Submit, ought to 'fold playing cards' and promote the newspaper

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The primary time I spoke to Jeff Bezos , he had based Amazon as an internet bookstore and made himself out there to every kind of journalists — a "political genius," stated the New York Occasions Journal, a "sensible, charming, hyper, and misleadingly goofy mastermind." In 1999, having blown previous the naysayers who scoffed on the unusual notion of on-line retailing, the 35-year-old businessman was named Time’s Individual of the 12 months.

Almost a decade-and-a-half later, as one of many world’s richest males, Bezos spent $250 million of his private fortune to purchase the Washington Submit from Katharine Graham’s household.

And now he ought to fold his playing cards and promote it.

It’s a distinct period for the business and a really totally different Bezos, one who's snug slashing a 3rd of the paper’s workers.

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Having initially declared that "the responsibility of the paper is to the readers, not the homeowners," Bezos, whose Blue Origin firm has federal contracts, is actively making an attempt to restore his once-strained relationship with President Donald Trump. Amazon donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration.

Whereas administration has made greater than its share of errors, I don’t suppose it’s an exaggeration to say that Bezos has destroyed what was as soon as certainly one of America’s nice newspapers.

I deliver my private historical past to the desk. I spent 29 years at the Post , working for Bob Woodward’s investigative SWAT staff, as Justice Division reporter, as New York bureau chief, and finally as media reporter and columnist.

Within the Nineteen Eighties and ’90s, when newspapers actually mattered, the Submit, whereas missing the assets of the New York Occasions, delivered scoops with an all-star staff, from politics (David Broder and Dan Balz) to sports activities (Tony Kornheiser, Michael Wilbon and Tom Boswell) to the metro desk (Woodward and Bernstein). And there was the freewheeling Fashion part of Sally Quinn and plenty of different narrative writers.

Jeff Bezos, founder and government chairman of Amazon and proprietor of the Washington Submit, appears to be like out into the group throughout the New York Occasions annual DealBook summit at Jazz at Lincoln Heart on Dec. 4, 2024, in New York Metropolis. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Pictures)

This was the paper of Watergate, serving to to drive Richard Nixon from workplace, after defying his administration in operating the Pentagon Papers, documenting the lies of the Vietnam Struggle. It was the newspaper of the legendary Ben Bradlee, whose retirement I lined after being secretly briefed. Regardless of occasional blunders (equivalent to Janet Cooke’s fraud), it was glamorized in two films ( Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman in "All of the President’s Males," Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks in "The Submit"), inspiring legions of younger graduates to enter journalism.

When Bezos fired 300 journalists the opposite day, he accomplished the wave of destruction that had already left the Submit a shell of its former self. These dismissed included such remaining stars as Lizzie Johnson, who stated she was "devastated" as she reported from the Ukraine conflict zone with out warmth or operating water. And Marty Weil, a sardonic night-shift man who has been on the paper for 60 years. And Sarah Ellison, a chic author who got here from Self-importance Honest. And this wrecking ball adopted a number of earlier rounds of layoffs.

Bezos doesn’t care. I simply suppose he’s tired of the property he as soon as believed would deliver him on the spot credibility. He’s extra focused on his rocket firm. The Submit is a blip on his international radar.

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I’m not within the camp that claims Bezos ought to subsidize the paper eternally simply because he’s uber-rich. With the paper dropping $100 million final yr, he’s entitled to search for a path to profitability. However Bezos is getting completely hammered by the media.

"We’re witnessing a homicide," wrote Ashley Parker, now with the Atlantic.

Liberal commentator Charlie Sykes provided this headline: "Gutless Billionaire Guts the Submit."

Former government editor Marty Baron, who beforehand ran the prize-winning Boston Globe, declared: " Bezos’ sickening efforts to curry favor with President Trump have left an particularly ugly stain of their very own. It is a case examine in near-instant, self-inflicted model destruction."

The Washington Submit's constructing in DC. The Submit eradicated greater than 300 jobs, shedding roughly 30% of its workforce. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Pictures)

Onetime Metro editor David Maraniss, a a mentor to so many on the paper, stated: "He purchased the Submit pondering that it might give him some gravitas and charm that he couldn’t get from simply billions of {dollars}, after which the world modified. Now I don’t suppose he provides a flying f***."

In equity, many newspapers have struggled with the collapse of their enterprise mannequin, as classifieds and promoting migrated on-line, and folks might get breaking information from their telephones or watches. Some transformed to web sites; the Pittsburgh Submit-Gazette is closing in Could.

Greater than 1 / 4 of American newspapers have folded previously twenty years. Again in 1981, the Washington Star, the place I labored, was shuttered as afternoon papers grew to become out of date.

However the Submit is a traditional case examine of failure to adapt to the digital age. Katharine Graham was skeptical when she summoned me to clarify this rising universe.

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Within the Bezos period, the crashing waves of cutbacks meant asking readers to maintain paying for a product that grew more and more diminished over time, with its star gamers defecting to different main retailers.

At first, Bezos took a hands-off strategy, seemingly in sync with the newsroom tradition. Throughout Trump’s first time period, he coined the slogan "Democracy Dies in Darkness." However there was a drastic shift in 2024.

When the editorial board drafted an endorsement of Kamala Harris , Bezos killed it, which because the proprietor he has each proper to do. Had he selected a non-endorsement earlier, few would have cared. However Bezos wielded the ax per week earlier than the election, and the furor was deafening. Because the Submit itself reported, greater than 250,000 folks canceled their subscriptions.

4 months later, Bezos decreed that the editorial pages would focus daily on selling "private liberties" and "free markets," banning any try to supply opposing views. Opinion Editor David Shipley, whose part had received two Pulitzers, resigned, and different editors and columnists minimize ties with the Submit.

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In the meantime, the mogul socialized with the Trumps at Mar-a-Lago , and sat behind the president at his second inauguration.

Bezos himself, as everybody is aware of, is now fairly the jet-setter. He discovered himself in the midst of a tabloid scandal when the Nationwide Enquirer revealed lewd texts between Bezos and his girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez, as information of his divorce was breaking. The Enquirer additionally revealed photos of his genitals, which he slammed as an try at blackmail. Bezos proposed to Sanchez on his 417-foot yacht, and so they have been married final spring in Venice, an extravaganza attended by the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Leonardo DiCaprio, Gayle King, Tom Brady and Kim Kardashian. The value tag for the multi-day celebrations was someplace between $20 million and $50 million.

For Bezos, this was mainly spare change. Peter Baker, a Submit alumnus who's now chief White House correspondent on the Occasions and an MS NOW analyst, reviews that Bezos’ web value is up $224 billion since shopping for the Washington paper.

So why does Bezos want the headache? He ought to unload this distressed asset to somebody who would have a contemporary shot at resuscitating the Washington Submit from its near-death expertise–although in all candor, it’s most likely too late.

A day after abolishing the Submit’s sports activities part, CEO Will Lewis – who blew off the workers name explaining the layoffs – was strolling the purple carpet on the NFL Honors in San Francisco , an occasion main as much as the Tremendous Bowl. Those that had misplaced their jobs, and their colleagues, have been livid.

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Even worse, he wouldn’t permit the Submit to jot down in regards to the sweeping layoffs. Significantly. His terse farewell notice thanked solely Bezos.

Again within the day, there would have been a half-dozen tales within the Submit in regards to the journalistic earthquake in its midst. However that was a very long time in the past.

Howard Kurtz is a media and political analyst and the previous host of FOX Information Channel's MediaBuzz . Primarily based in Washington, D.C., he joined the community in 2013 and repeatedly seems on Particular Report with Bret Baier and The Story with Martha MacCallum amongst different applications.