By Pepper Parr
January 17th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
If you want to know just how much trouble media is in North America try this on for size.
Jeff Bezos with his second wife Laura Sanchez
The Washington Post, owned by Jeff Bezos, who owns the Amazon organization told the Post editorial staff they were not to endorse any candidate during the election.
The Post was said to be getting ready to endorse Kamala Harris.
The Post had a tag line, Democracy Dies in Darkness, that was always published under the title of the newspaper.
The current tagline used by the Washington Poat
The New York Times reports that the tagline is being replaced with
“Riveting Storytelling for All of America.”
Not quite the same is it.
The newspaper debuted a mission statement that evokes a more expansive view of The Post’s journalism, without death or darkness: “Riveting Storytelling for All of America.”
The statement is meant to be an internal rallying point for employees, according to two people with knowledge of the decision. Executives are not planning to replace its more strident public slogan. Suzi Watford, The Post’s chief strategy officer, has been previewing it to some employees this week.
The new mission statement comes amid turmoil in the newsroom. Since June, The Post has been reeling from a series of crises that has resulted in widespread dissatisfaction with Will Lewis, the company’s chief executive. On Wednesday, more than 400 employees sent a letter to Jeff Bezos, the paper’s billionaire owner, requesting a meeting to discuss leadership decisions that they said “led readers to question the integrity of this institution” and that “prompted some of our most distinguished colleagues to leave.”
Whenever media is owned by an organization that has other interests the inevitable conflicts get in the way.
People don’t buy a newspaper to make money – they buy newspapers to reflect and protect their interests.
Bezos also owns Blue Origin, a private spaceflight company that has been developing reusable rockets and other spacecraft to help people live and work in space. The American federal government pumps thousands of millions into these space ventures.
The Post editorial cartoonist resigned when told they were not going to publish a cartoon that had a number of major technology executives bowing before Donald Trump
Mr.Bezos has every right to do what he wants with his paper just as we have every right to choose wether or not we read it!