Washington Post Journalist Comments on Bezos Deal
September 20, 2013
One of the esteemed reporters at the Washington Post calls for Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, who famously bought the paper this summer, to respect the talent already in place at that historic publication. TechEye.net informs us, “Top WaPo Journalist Pens Open Missive to Jeff Bezos.” The award-winning Gene Weingarten recalls another time when he faced demands from on high at another publication:
“Weingarten presents an anecdote from his days editing the Tropic where publishes exerted pressure on editorial to run positive stories about corporate masters Knight-Ridder, ‘inevitably uncritical, nakedly celebratory, and drenched in self-promotion’. He and his colleagues declined, as they were ‘trying to establish a feisty, pugnacious identity, and being a corporate suckup toady lickspittle didn’t fit in with our plans’.”
We love that quote, which so colorfully sets the stage for any changes Bezos may attempt to impose on his new property. This time, though, Weingarten seems at least a little optimistic. He writes:
“You have bought a place filled with enormously talented and dedicated journalists who are, at the moment, terrified at the prospect of change we don’t really understand. . . . You are obviously a good businessman. I hope you have a clear vision of where to take this remarkable enterprise.”
We hope so, too. Investigative journalism, as important as it is to our society, has been fading fast. Will Bezos be the one to save it?
Cynthia Murrell, September 20, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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