4 ms·

Apart from believing a public statement, do you have any reason to believe he will be a good steward of a journalistic entity? As far as I know, he has no expe

Apart from believing a public statement, do you have any reason to believe he will be a good steward of a journalistic entity? As far as I know, he has no experience in reporting the unbiased truth and a lot of experience in selling stuff.

bennyg 13y ago
As far as I know, he has expertise in launching innovative technology at scale - something the Post desperately needs to stay afloat. Removing the politics of the business and replacing with innovation would do the whole country some good.
- nfoz 13y ago
  Innovation is political.
  - bennyg 13y ago
    Sure. But a family-run, corporate business is definitely more so.
- smacktoward 13y ago
  Interestingly, the Post's existing digital experimentation shop, WaPo Labs (http://www.wapolabs.com/ http://www.wapolabs.com/), is specifically mentioned in the Post's official statement as one of the assets that is not included in the sale. Update: Slashdot founder Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda (who was hired by WaPo Labs last year) confirms on Google+ that he and his team aren't going with the paper: https://plus.google.com/+CmdrTaco/posts/1V2ZpbjcgbB https://plus.google.com/+CmdrTaco/posts/1V2ZpbjcgbB
walid 13y ago
He is the only loser if he sinks the WaPo. So in that light, Bezos has the incentive to at least maintain the paper's standing.
qq66 13y ago
Most business owners try to maximize profit. Bezos is clearly not doing this for the money, so the paper will be less beholden to corporate/revenue interests and more beholden to Bezos himself. How that works out depends on how close to Plato's "benevolent dictator" Bezos ends up being; the statement says that he's planning to try.
- jim-greer 13y ago
  I agree. I'm afraid if we want to keep lots of high quality journalism around, some of it is going to have to be subsidized in one way or another. Rich patrons are one way of doing that.
duaneb 13y ago
> As far as I know, he has no experience in reporting the unbiased truth and a lot of experience in selling stuff. Yea, I hope his boss doesn't put him on a reporting job.

bennyg 13y ago

As far as I know, he has expertise in launching innovative technology at scale - something the Post desperately needs to stay afloat. Removing the politics of the business and replacing with innovation would do the whole country some good.

nfoz 13y ago
Innovation is political.
- bennyg 13y ago
  Sure. But a family-run, corporate business is definitely more so.
smacktoward 13y ago
Interestingly, the Post's existing digital experimentation shop, WaPo Labs (http://www.wapolabs.com/ http://www.wapolabs.com/), is specifically mentioned in the Post's official statement as one of the assets that is not included in the sale. Update: Slashdot founder Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda (who was hired by WaPo Labs last year) confirms on Google+ that he and his team aren't going with the paper: https://plus.google.com/+CmdrTaco/posts/1V2ZpbjcgbB https://plus.google.com/+CmdrTaco/posts/1V2ZpbjcgbB

walid 13y ago

He is the only loser if he sinks the WaPo. So in that light, Bezos has the incentive to at least maintain the paper's standing.

qq66 13y ago

Most business owners try to maximize profit. Bezos is clearly not doing this for the money, so the paper will be less beholden to corporate/revenue interests and more beholden to Bezos himself. How that works out depends on how close to Plato's "benevolent dictator" Bezos ends up being; the statement says that he's planning to try.

jim-greer 13y ago
I agree. I'm afraid if we want to keep lots of high quality journalism around, some of it is going to have to be subsidized in one way or another. Rich patrons are one way of doing that.

duaneb 13y ago

> As far as I know, he has no experience in reporting the unbiased truth and a lot of experience in selling stuff. Yea, I hope his boss doesn't put him on a reporting job.