4 ms·

Yeah, this was always the tell. If he truly cared about journalism and wanted to use his money to support it he could very easily place WaPo in some sort of tru

Yeah, this was always the tell. If he truly cared about journalism and wanted to use his money to support it he could very easily place WaPo in some sort of trust he has no power over. And yet, despite publicly admitting the conflict of interest, he hasn’t. Only one reason why you do that and it's because you intend to make the most of your control.

nickff 1y ago
It seems like the problem with WaPo is that it’s constantly losing money, and has been since well before Bezos bought it. This makes it difficult to be hands-off for (at least) two reasons: he can’t just put it in a conventional trust, because he has to constantly give the organization money (which is abnormal for such a trust), and (secondly) in order to be sustainable, WaPo needs to be significantly changed so that it stops hemorrhaging money.
- embedding-shape 1y ago
  It's almost like trying to run a newspaper the same way you run a for-profit online marketplace isn't the greatest of ideas. Who could've known...
  - kridsdale3 1y ago
    Coming Soon: WaPo Marketplace. Search for a story and get 10000 results from writers in China like LIOPOSFO and XIGISNN that look almost like the genuine article!
    - summa_tech 1y ago
      Fortunately, they all come from the same LLM article factory as the western-branded ones. So, no loss.
      - terminalshort 1y ago
        No, they will come from Deepseek and have very different opinions on Taiwan
    - platevoltage 1y ago
      LIOPOSFO actually got banned from the platform unfortunately. They did get a new writer named LIOPOSFI who is very similar though.
- afavour 1y ago
  I’d say the UK’s Guardian newspaper is a useful example here. It’s been owned by the Scott Trust since the 1930s: https://www.theguardian.com/about/history https://www.theguardian.com/about/history And it has survived without continual extra investment. Possible that WaPo is just managed badly.
  - notahacker 1y ago
    In fairness, when it comes to surviving the modern media landscape the Guardian seems to be good at online, but has the distinct advantage of the UK having no other remotely left leaning broadsheets or even middle market tabloids. Since Lebvedev destroyed the Independent, it's basically the Guardian or the Mirror which is a trashy rag, and the nominal centrist papers are owned by Murdoch and the Daily Mail General Trust. Not sure how that translates into US media context. The second lesson from UK media is that the Daily Mail General Trust is usually assumed to be a vehicle for whatever the owning dynasty wants, despite encompassing multiple newspapers with different editorial stances (this is also certainly historically accurate: in the 1930s the man who set up the trust was writing letters to the PM offering editorial support in exchange for being allowed to veto any government appointments the PM wanted to make). So I don't think a trust structure alone will make people believe Bezos has no influence over it.
    - metabagel 1y ago
      Anecdotally, The Guardian has a lot of U.S. readers. I regularly read and donate to The Guardian. Their U.S. and California coverage is very good and seems to be continually improving. Axios has an article about The Guardian's success in the U.S., but I don't have access behind the paywall. https://www.axios.com/2025/05/06/the-guardian-us-expansion https://www.axios.com/2025/05/06/the-guardian-us-expansion Better resource: https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2025/09/11/Guardian_Annual_Report_24_25.pdf https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2025/09/11/Guardian_Annual_Report...
      - platevoltage 1y ago
        I'm one of them. I don't love that I have to overseas to find reliable news on my own country.
- clort 1y ago
  Bezos has so much money that he could simply drop a billion or five into the trust and never need to see any return from it.
uvaursi 1y ago
What’s the relation between Journalism, Facts and Truth? I’d like a three-way Venn diagram to understand if there are any overlaps.
GCA10 1y ago
It's worth reading former WashPost editor Marty Baron's memoirs for a little more insight about Bezos's priorities. Back when Bezos was married to MacKenzie Scott, she was a surprisingly strong voice about how to do things. (The slogan "Democracy Dies in Darkness" got approved after her blessing.) Lately, my sense is that his new wife, Lauren Sanchez, has more of an interest in the Post than Bezos does. So he's basically the absentee owner of a property that's more interesting to the women in his life than to him. Current management at the paper is probably eager to make sure that the paper doesn't embarrass (or "complexify") his bigger business priorities. Their desire to mollify may be excessive. I've seen such things happen inside large organizations.
terminalshort 1y ago
That doesn't solve the problem (because it can't be solved). Someone is in control, and the paper will be biased in their interest.

nickff 1y ago

It seems like the problem with WaPo is that it’s constantly losing money, and has been since well before Bezos bought it. This makes it difficult to be hands-off for (at least) two reasons: he can’t just put it in a conventional trust, because he has to constantly give the organization money (which is abnormal for such a trust), and (secondly) in order to be sustainable, WaPo needs to be significantly changed so that it stops hemorrhaging money.

embedding-shape 1y ago
It's almost like trying to run a newspaper the same way you run a for-profit online marketplace isn't the greatest of ideas. Who could've known...
- kridsdale3 1y ago
  Coming Soon: WaPo Marketplace. Search for a story and get 10000 results from writers in China like LIOPOSFO and XIGISNN that look almost like the genuine article!
  - summa_tech 1y ago
    Fortunately, they all come from the same LLM article factory as the western-branded ones. So, no loss.
    - terminalshort 1y ago
      No, they will come from Deepseek and have very different opinions on Taiwan
  - platevoltage 1y ago
    LIOPOSFO actually got banned from the platform unfortunately. They did get a new writer named LIOPOSFI who is very similar though.
afavour 1y ago
I’d say the UK’s Guardian newspaper is a useful example here. It’s been owned by the Scott Trust since the 1930s: https://www.theguardian.com/about/history https://www.theguardian.com/about/history And it has survived without continual extra investment. Possible that WaPo is just managed badly.
- notahacker 1y ago
  In fairness, when it comes to surviving the modern media landscape the Guardian seems to be good at online, but has the distinct advantage of the UK having no other remotely left leaning broadsheets or even middle market tabloids. Since Lebvedev destroyed the Independent, it's basically the Guardian or the Mirror which is a trashy rag, and the nominal centrist papers are owned by Murdoch and the Daily Mail General Trust. Not sure how that translates into US media context. The second lesson from UK media is that the Daily Mail General Trust is usually assumed to be a vehicle for whatever the owning dynasty wants, despite encompassing multiple newspapers with different editorial stances (this is also certainly historically accurate: in the 1930s the man who set up the trust was writing letters to the PM offering editorial support in exchange for being allowed to veto any government appointments the PM wanted to make). So I don't think a trust structure alone will make people believe Bezos has no influence over it.
  - metabagel 1y ago
    Anecdotally, The Guardian has a lot of U.S. readers. I regularly read and donate to The Guardian. Their U.S. and California coverage is very good and seems to be continually improving. Axios has an article about The Guardian's success in the U.S., but I don't have access behind the paywall. https://www.axios.com/2025/05/06/the-guardian-us-expansion https://www.axios.com/2025/05/06/the-guardian-us-expansion Better resource: https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2025/09/11/Guardian_Annual_Report_24_25.pdf https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2025/09/11/Guardian_Annual_Report...
    - platevoltage 1y ago
      I'm one of them. I don't love that I have to overseas to find reliable news on my own country.
clort 1y ago
Bezos has so much money that he could simply drop a billion or five into the trust and never need to see any return from it.

uvaursi 1y ago

What’s the relation between Journalism, Facts and Truth? I’d like a three-way Venn diagram to understand if there are any overlaps.

GCA10 1y ago

It's worth reading former WashPost editor Marty Baron's memoirs for a little more insight about Bezos's priorities. Back when Bezos was married to MacKenzie Scott, she was a surprisingly strong voice about how to do things. (The slogan "Democracy Dies in Darkness" got approved after her blessing.) Lately, my sense is that his new wife, Lauren Sanchez, has more of an interest in the Post than Bezos does. So he's basically the absentee owner of a property that's more interesting to the women in his life than to him. Current management at the paper is probably eager to make sure that the paper doesn't embarrass (or "complexify") his bigger business priorities. Their desire to mollify may be excessive. I've seen such things happen inside large organizations.

terminalshort 1y ago

That doesn't solve the problem (because it can't be solved). Someone is in control, and the paper will be biased in their interest.