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> So I wouldn’t take WaPo as an indicator of anything; its a Bozos Vanity Project and nothing else. Meanwhile Laurene Powell (Steve Jobs' widow) owns The Atla

> So I wouldn’t take WaPo as an indicator of anything; its a Bozos Vanity Project and nothing else. Meanwhile Laurene Powell (Steve Jobs' widow) owns The Atlantic, and their subscriptions are up and they are now profitable: * https://wan-ifra.org/2025/05/how-the-atlantic-keeps-subscribers-without-cutting-prices/ https://wan-ifra.org/2025/05/how-the-atlantic-keeps-subscrib... * https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/11/media/the-atlantic-magazine-print-monthly-subscription https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/11/media/the-atlantic-magazine-p... * https://www.pugpig.com/2025/03/14/the-content-and-revenue-lessons-from-the-atlantics-turnaround/ https://www.pugpig.com/2025/03/14/the-content-and-revenue-le... One can have a well-run 'vanity project' or a badly-run one.

dotancohen 1y ago
Always happy for a new news source, I just took a look at the Atlantic. It doesn't seem to have any news, just articles about news. Interesting concept.
- throw0101c 1y ago
  > It doesn't seem to have any news, just articles about news. Interesting concept. Atlantic is/was a monthly magazine so they're not trying to do 'scoops' as much as a traditional daily or weekly magazine. Of course in the current age they do have to post regularly somewhat for traffic: but they've generally been about taking a step and perhaps looking a the bigger picture. For example, on the politics side they have David Frum, former speech writer for George W. Bush (#43): * https://www.theatlantic.com/author/david-frum/ https://www.theatlantic.com/author/david-frum/ * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Frum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Frum And Tom Nichols, who taught international affairs and national-security at the U.S. Naval War College: * https://www.theatlantic.com/author/tom-nichols/ https://www.theatlantic.com/author/tom-nichols/ * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Nichols_(academic) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Nichols_(academic)
tialaramex 1y ago
Does Powell make editorial decisions at The Atlantic ? The problem I think is implied to be the choice to meddle with editorial not per se the choice for wealthy individuals to own such a publication. I'd be interested with people who buy sports teams and interfere in running the team - does that go similarly poorly? Does it turn out that billionaires aren't great at choosing the team composition and strategy for NFL games ? Surprised Pikachu Face 'cos sure seems like Bezos doesn't understand how to write a great newspaper...
- ModernMech 1y ago
  > Bezos doesn't understand how to write a great newspaper... He's not trying to write a great newspaper, he's trying to write a newspaper that curries favor or at least doesn't raise the ire of the current administration.
  - throw0101c 1y ago
    > He's not trying to write a great newspaper, he's trying to write a newspaper that curries favor or at least doesn't raise the ire of the current administration. And I think is a problem with news organizations that are part of larger conglomerates: it may be possible to use leverage on other parts of the business to affect how the news operations are done. If (say) Bill Gates owned WaPo, he doesn't necessarily care much about how Microsoft is doing anymore. Whereas Bezos probably does still care about Amazon, as well as his space stuff.

dotancohen 1y ago

Always happy for a new news source, I just took a look at the Atlantic. It doesn't seem to have any news, just articles about news. Interesting concept.

throw0101c 1y ago
> It doesn't seem to have any news, just articles about news. Interesting concept. Atlantic is/was a monthly magazine so they're not trying to do 'scoops' as much as a traditional daily or weekly magazine. Of course in the current age they do have to post regularly somewhat for traffic: but they've generally been about taking a step and perhaps looking a the bigger picture. For example, on the politics side they have David Frum, former speech writer for George W. Bush (#43): * https://www.theatlantic.com/author/david-frum/ https://www.theatlantic.com/author/david-frum/ * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Frum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Frum And Tom Nichols, who taught international affairs and national-security at the U.S. Naval War College: * https://www.theatlantic.com/author/tom-nichols/ https://www.theatlantic.com/author/tom-nichols/ * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Nichols_(academic) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Nichols_(academic)

tialaramex 1y ago

Does Powell make editorial decisions at The Atlantic ? The problem I think is implied to be the choice to meddle with editorial not per se the choice for wealthy individuals to own such a publication. I'd be interested with people who buy sports teams and interfere in running the team - does that go similarly poorly? Does it turn out that billionaires aren't great at choosing the team composition and strategy for NFL games ? Surprised Pikachu Face 'cos sure seems like Bezos doesn't understand how to write a great newspaper...

ModernMech 1y ago
> Bezos doesn't understand how to write a great newspaper... He's not trying to write a great newspaper, he's trying to write a newspaper that curries favor or at least doesn't raise the ire of the current administration.
- throw0101c 1y ago
  > He's not trying to write a great newspaper, he's trying to write a newspaper that curries favor or at least doesn't raise the ire of the current administration. And I think is a problem with news organizations that are part of larger conglomerates: it may be possible to use leverage on other parts of the business to affect how the news operations are done. If (say) Bill Gates owned WaPo, he doesn't necessarily care much about how Microsoft is doing anymore. Whereas Bezos probably does still care about Amazon, as well as his space stuff.