https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/28/jeff-bezos-washington-post-trust/
Ummmm… okay. He doesn’t even fucking see the problem.
EDIT: I need to post this paragraph. Its so… rich.
You can see my wealth and business interests as a bulwark against intimidation, or you can see them as a web of conflicting interests. Only my own principles can tip the balance from one to the other. 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. You are of course free to make your own determination, but I challenge you to find one instance in those 11 years where I have prevailed upon anyone at The Post in favor of my own interests. It hasn’t happened.
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but I challenge you to find one instance in those 11 years where I have prevailed upon anyone at The Post in favor of my own interests
Remember that time you conferred with one presidential election candidate, then stopped The Post from endorsing the other candidate, then wrote your own article in The Post about how that was fine?
“Ok fine, but I challenge you, beyond that.”
Im sure they were prohibited from publishing about amazon strikes
Our profession
Gonna stop you right there Jeff. You’re not a journalist.
That has to make him look even more of an asshole to the real journalists.
I thought he understood more about wielding power, particularly after his op ed following the Saudi blackmail pictures thing. Purely from a tactical perspective he should have done something to distract from this, rather than trying to defend a losing position.
Unsubscribe from Prime.
Honestly? Amazon’s really crap these days. Its basically Alibaba as its mostly a chinese-knockoff / no-brand location.
All the good brands (ex: Nike) have moved onto their own websites (order direct from Nike). There’s also a myriad of specialty stores (Jetpens.com, Microcenter, Digikey, classicpokerchips.com, apachepokerchips, https://all-aboardgames.com/) where you can now order direct from the manufacturer… or actually have a storefront that cares about you as a customer. (Seriously, checkout Jetpens.com, they obviously care about good reviews and how pens feel).
Once you’ve had the taste of specialty stores, Amazon.com feels like cheap crap. I rarely shop at Amazon anymore, though its taken me many years to find all these specialty shops that I trust.
The few “everyday essential” items I get these days are from Target, Costco, and Walmart, as well as my local grocery store. Its very rare that I ever need a purchase from Amazon anymore.
Tried to unsubscribe at start of the year when they added commercials to Prime Videos. Wouldn’t let me cancel. I could set my subscription to NOT RENEW but I could not cancel it and get a pro-rated refund. So I’ll keep it until December with it constantly reminding me how much I save on postage with Prime. Won’t really change my usage patterns. I’ll just group my purchases until shipping is free. No more 50lbs of cat litter drop shipped overnight for $2.50.
It’s really hard to unsubscribe from Amazon when you live in one of those places dominated by Amazon. The closest grocery store to my home is an Amazon Fresh. Second closest is a Whole Foods. And my apartment building has a dedicated Amazon delivery locker with expedited delivery options.
It’s dystopian as shit that one company has this much influence, but not using them would require significant effort on my part, especially in trying to buy everyday essentials since I don’t have a retail store like Walmart or Target anywhere near me.
I’ve tried to switch to other stores, but I end up with nothing but problems. I order something and it takes 2 weeks to get to me. I order something and it comes damaged or the order is incorrect and the seller doesn’t do anything to fix it. I order something large and it doesn’t get delivered, instead I get a slip telling me it was too big for my mailbox and to come to the USPS center across town to grab a 30Lb bag of cat food that I’ll now have to take home on the bus…
That, and as I mentioned, there’s a dedicated Amazon locker. If you order something for delivery, and it sits in the mail room, there’s about a 20% chance every day that it sits there that it’s going to get stolen. But not Amazon purchases, those get locked up…
I’d have to either move somewhere else or get a car or something to eliminate them from my routine at this point. Just the fact that they’re the nearest Grocery store means that a handful of food purchases pays for a Prime sub. I’d actually end up giving Bezos more money proportionally if I cancelled Prime, even if I were diverting 90% of my other purchases to non-Amazon retailers.
I’ve been a Washington Post subscriber for almost a decade. I just cancelled.
Now I need to figure out which independent news organizations that money should go to instead.
https://lemmy.world/comment/13137003
I started this discussion here. AP, NPR, The Guardian, Economist are on my shortlist. I’m still looking.
ProPublica has been doing great work.
I think Mother Jones is pretty decent.
Dropsite News consists of former The Intercept journalists and they do really good work.
Also, anything that Mehdi Hasan does.
On one hand, it’s true that he has exerted little influence before this year. On the other hand, “it doesn’t even matter” is a shit argument to silence your staff
Except when Jeff Bezos installed Sir William Lewis and got rid of Sally Buzbee last year.
Among other changes. But the number of right-wing stories have increased since then.
That was actually in 2024, so my point stands (not disagreeing with your sentiment though). This year has been the first time Bezos really inserted his views into the Post
Read your article please?
Lewis begins the job Jan. 2
So, an article posted in late ‘23 says he begins in January. We’re agreeing he started in ‘24?
I’m pretty sure Jeff Bezos was pushing out the old editor-in-chief and making room for him in 2023. Naming him the next head is part of Jeff’s actions from last year.
Articles that announce these intentions in Nov 2023 are proof that the plans are already made.
How many WaPo articles can you find that are critical of Amazon, Bezos, or rampant capitalism in general?
Is that a joke lol? Or are you too lazy to literally go to their website and type in “Amazon”?
There have been plenty, to answer your question.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/06/15/amazon-one-medical-patient-safety/
That’s just the first page (everything else that came up was about the Amazon rainforest)
Nice try, Jeff!
I guess there’s been some loosening, but a few years back I remember it feeling pretty skewed. I can’t read that first article and that second one is from just a couple months ago.
You’re right that it’s not a blanket ban on criticism, but even if there’s not a strict interference, there’s an implicit bias against biting the hand that feeds you unless there’s a very structured support system to prevent it.
Not at all. I’ve been making this argument for years on other sites. It’s always come up with at least 2/3 negative articles when you type in “Amazon” on WaPo.
The only evidence I’ve seen against me is stupid memes that screenshot the rare op ed defending Amazon
It’s not just about negative articles though - it’s also what isn’t published. Just because they’re not publishing two puff pieces for every critical one doesn’t mean they’re not showing bias.
I’m not trying to start a fight about it though. Bezos is a piece of shit regardless of WaPo, and now he definitely is one because of it too.
Ok. Find me some major topics covered in other outlets that WaPo didn’t cover. If you’re making a point, please give evidence, as I did above
Bias is unavoidable.
https://www.cjr.org/special_report/washington-post-jeff-bezos.php/
https://nypost.com/2024/10/28/media/washington-post-owner-jeff-bezos-wants-conservative-writers/
https://www.cjr.org/the_new_gatekeepers/washington-post-bezos-amazon.php
https://front-sci.com/journal/article?doi=10.32629/memf.v1i3.198
“I just bowed down to fascism this one time! It won’t happen again, pinkie promise!” Yeah, no, Jeff. One time is one time too much already. You’re aligned yourself with fascists. That makes you a fascist too.
He’s always welcome to give up The Post
He should give up his wealth too while he’s at it, among other things
No, not without a fight he said because something something podcasts.
NOBODY likes you Jeff. Nobody.
This is so fucking cringe.
Most people believe the media is biased. Anyone who doesn’t see this is paying scant attention to reality, and those who fight reality lose.
Presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election. No undecided voters in Pennsylvania are going to say, “I’m going with Newspaper A’s endorsement.” None.
I am screaming at this juxtaposition. This is such techbro thinking, where he’s oversimplifying a single data point to pretend he’s making a data-driven decision (people in a survey said media is biased) and then leaning on a confirmation biased, entirely non-data driven stance (people don’t vote based on newspaper endorsements because I said so).
I mean, two seconds of thinking will tell you that people think the press is biased because the press is biased. There is no reason “the press” that is causing this impact is WaPo in a world of Newsmaxes, Foxes and yes, MSNBCs. You’re going to need more than a survey you read once to make that determination.
And obviously, he has done nothing to determine that his choice doesn’t benefit Trump. He doesn’t even claim that, he just… says so.
Or that his choice moves the needle towards lack of bias, because man, it sure seems like he’s diminishing independence here, not the opposite.
It’s the same billionare brain rot. It’s the same wonky self-assured, biased thinking where they can’t pay enough brainpower to consider the facts independently and they’re too convinced of their own infallibility to even address basic human biases or defer to actual experts on their random convictions.
It’s an absurd way to run a business, let alone a country. And there are few enough of these super rich idiots with a direct enough spotlight that we have a full sample size here. We (now) know how Bezos thinks. We definitely know how Zuck and Musk think. They aren’t to be trusted with the decisionmaking their money warrants them under the current system. Their squishy human brains are too weak and broken to handle it without the elaborate, dispassionate social engineering that keeps reasoably designed liberal democracies chugging along.
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