Washington Post Owner Tries To Stop The Bleeding

Jeff Bezos, owner of the Washington Post, published a “note” today in his newspaper. “The hard truth: Americans don’t trust the news media.” Ah yes Jeff. And why do you think that might be?

Of course serious billionaire oligarchs are interested in, or perhaps prefer to be the purveyors of. Hard Truth. I have succeeded in bringing my eyes back from where they rolled to. The note is filled with brilliant insights.

Something we are doing is clearly not working.

Most people believe the media is biased.

What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias. A perception of non-independence. Ending them is a principled decision, and it’s the right one.

I would also like to be clear that no quid pro quo of any kind is at work here. 

I assure you that my views here are, in fact, principled, and I believe my track record as owner of The Post since 2013 backs this up. 

More and more, we [WsPo and NYT] talk to ourselves. 

While I do not andwill not push my personal interest, I will also not allow this paper to stay on autopilot and fade into irrelevance — overtaken by unresearched podcasts and social media barbs — not without a fight.

Now that you are convinced that you should trust Jeff Bezos’s Washington Post, you may be concerned to hear that 200,000 subscribers, 8% of their subscription base, have canceled their subscriptions as of noon today. Molly Roberts and David Hoffman have resigned from the editorial board, and Robert Kagan and Michelle Norris have resigned as columnists. There are rumors of more to come.