The Washington Post

The Washington Post, depending on who you ask, is either commie trash, a neoconservative rag desperately trying to outflank the rival (and paleoconservative) Washington Times from the right, the epitome of the worst excesses of the liberal media, Jeff Bezos's mouthpiece with its weird fact checksDemocracy Dies From Bad Fact-Checking The Nation 3 September 2019Bernie Sanders' campaign is demanding that The Washington Post retract a fact-check article that assigned Sanders 3 'Pinocchios' by Kat Tenbarge (1 September 2019) Business Insider. and billionaire apologia,Punitive taxes on billionaires are bad politics, bad economics and just plain unfair The Washington Post 17 October 2019 or America's Newspaper of Record.TMThe New York Times has also been given the label, something they've vehemently disliked. Media Bias/Fact Check, a more neutral source, classifies The Washington Post as a left-center source, slightly on the left of The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, for instance.Washington Post Media Bias/Fact Check/ Since February 2017, a month after the inauguration of Donald Trump, the Post's new slogan is "Democracy Dies in Darkness" (although they claim it has nothing to do with Trump).The Washington Post’s new slogan turns out to be an old saying The Washington Post 24 February 2017
It is most famous for the role played by two of its reporters, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward (made famous in the film All the President's Men), in slowly exposing the Watergate scandal that led to then-President Richard M. Nixon's resignation in hoping avoid the shame of imminent impeachment.Resignation was not the end: Today we assume an official who resigns won't face impeachment or a subsequent trial. That wasn't always the case. by Bryan Craig, Miller Center. At the time, the Post was but one of three competing Washington, D.C. daily newspapers along with the Washington Star and the Washington Daily News. Their coverage of the Watergate scandal solidified the Post's dominance in the D.C. newspaper market and gained the paper national stature. They were bought by Jeff Bezos, the asshole founder of Amazon, in 2013.Washington Post to be sold to Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon The Washington Post 5 August 2013 At the time of the purchase, Bezos told his employees that he would keep a hands-off approach to journalism at the paper.Jeff Bezos once saved the Washington Post. Now he needs to do it again by Margaret Sullivan (12 Jun 2024 14.55 EDT) The Guardian. Consequently, they also can't afford you looking at the newspaper for free so they helpfully imposed an article limit before hitting the ever-obnoxious paywall as well as bitching about your adblocker and proclaiming they will use your cookies. But, hey, at least the 2020 COVID-19 coverage was free! To his credit, Bezos actually kept his word until 2024 at least, with The Post including negative reportage on Bezos' original billionaire-making site, Amazon and even negative reportage against Bezos himself.Want to borrow that e-book from the library? Sorry, Amazon won’t let you. Its monopoly is stopping public libraries from lending e-books and audiobooks from Mindy Kaling, Dean Koontz, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Trevor Noah, Andy Weir, Michael Pollan and a whole lot more by Geoffrey A. Fowler (March 10, 2021 at 7:00 a.m. EST) The Washington Post.Regulators blame Bezos for making Amazon worse in new lawsuit details: Previously redacted portions of the Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit against Amazon allege Bezos gave the go-ahead to make search results worse in favor of increasing advertising revenue Caroline O'Donovan (November 2, 2023) The Washington Post.Rotterdam to dismantle part of historic bridge so Jeff Bezos’s massive yacht can pass through by Miriam Berger (February 2, 2022 at 1:21 p.m. EST) The Washington Post.
==Subsidiaries==
From 1961 to 2010 the Post published Newsweek, which was at the time, America's second-largest weekly newsmagazine. Newsweek then collapsed after WaPo sold it off (admittedly, it was going downhill before then).Audio Pioneer Sidney Harman Buys Struggling Newsweek by Tanzina Vega & Jeremy W. Peters (Aug. 2, 2010) The New York Times.
In 2004 the Post purchased Slate Magazine from Microsoft.Company Overview of Slate Magazine Bloomberg Business (archived from April 3, 2015).
In 1984, the Post's parent company purchased Kaplan, Inc., a tutoring and educational testing service. In 2000, the Post bought an online college and renamed it Kaplan College (now Kaplan University). Like most for-profit institutions of higher education, Kaplan U. has become known more for its quest for profit than for its quest for knowledge.At Kaplan University, 'Guerilla Registration' Leaves Students Deep In Debt: Kaplan University's 'Guerrilla Registration' Forcing Students Into Debt by Chris Kirkham (Dec 22, 2010, 08:35 AM EST; Updated Dec 6, 2017) Huffington Post.
==Columnists==
An incomplete list;Opinions (click "Show all Opinion writers" for the full list) The Washington Post some notable Post opinion columnists include:
===Liberal columnists===
===Centrists and formerly-conservative columnists===
===Conservative columnists===
Since 2016, you could be forgiven for thinking that at least some of these columnists are actually liberal because of their relentless attacks on the criminality and corruption of the Trump administration.
==Bezos gets his hands dirty==
 was the publisher of The Post from 2014 to 2023. Following Bezos the unfortunate event that someone told Bezos that The Post lost $77 million in 2023,The Washington Post publisher disclosed the paper lost $77 million last year. Here’s his plan to turn it around by Oliver Darcy (7:02 AM EDT, Thu May 23, 2024) CNN. Bezos decided to appoint William Lewis as the new publisher starting January 2, 2024.William Lewis named publisher and CEO of The Washington Post: The veteran media executive, previously the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, was tapped by Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos to replace Fred Ryan, who stepped down in August. by Elahe Izadi & Jeremy Barr (November 4, 2023) The Washington Post. For perspective on what a $77 million loss means to Bezos, his net worth in December 2023 was $171 billion,Jeff Bezos Forbes (archived from December 15, 2023). and his net worth in October 2024 was $200 billion.Jeff Bezos Forbes (October 3, 2024). Bezos lost 1/2600th of his net worth on The Post in 2023, but his net worth still went up by $31 billion in 10 months. Clearly, if he wanted to, he could lose that amount of money on The Post from now to eternity if he thought it was a worthy endeavor.
Lewis' prior experience was as a journalist, followed by working as an editor for the conservative Daily Telegraph and the tabloid The Mail on Sunday,Witness Statement of William Lewis (January 10, 2012) Discover Leveson. followed by working as chief executive of the Rupert Murdoch-owned Dow Jones & Company, and publisher of The Wall Street Journal. He was tasked by Bezos to make The Post profitable again,The Post at a crossroads: Existential questions in a dire season for news: Critics raise concerns about the values of a new team of executives. Meanwhile, the business woes are real. What does Jeff Bezos want? by Elahe Izadi and Sarah Ellison (June 10, 2024 at 11:22 p.m. EDT) The Washington Post. because every penny counts for billionaires. In June 2024, calls were made to investigate William Lewis' involvement in the criminal, dirty journalism [Post publisher’s role in hacking response comes into sharper focus: Former U.K. prime minister Gordon Brown calls for William Lewis to be criminally investigated. Lewis says he “did nothing wrong.” by Aaron C. Davis et al. (June 28, 2024 at 7:22 a.m. EDT) The Washington Post. Also in June 2024, to solve the profitability problem, Lewis proposed a new undefined third division for The Post, "social media and service journalism", that would supplement the existing two divisions of news and opinions.Washington Post C.E.O. Promised Interview for Ignoring Scandal, NPR Reporter Says: David Folkenflik of NPR wrote that the offer, in exchange for agreeing to stop his coverage of a phone hacking scandal, was made “repeatedly — and heatedly.” by Katie Robertson & Benjamin Mullin (June 6, 2024) The New York Times. Lewis' June meeting with staff at the Post about the third division was not well received. Given that "social media and service journalism" is undefined, and Lewis' prior experience working in a tabloid and working for Murdoch, one wonders if it's a code phrase for tabloidism.
In October 2024, 11 days before the final day of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, The Post announced that it would not endorse a presidential candidate.The Washington Post says it will not endorse a candidate for president: Publisher William Lewis explained the decision as a return to the newspaper’s roots. by Manuel Roig-Franzia & Laura Wagner (October 25, 2024) The Washington Post. According to The Post's employees union, the Washington Post Guild, the endorsement of Kamala Harris had already been written by the editorial board when Bezos ordered that it be quashed.4/ "According to our own reporters and Guild members, an endorsement for Harris was already drafted, and the decision to not to publish was made by The Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos […"] by Washington Post Guild (5:45 PM · Oct 25, 2024) Twitter (archived from 26 Oct 2024 09:56:21 UTC).
In explaining the decision, publisher Lewis claimed that it was a return to The Post's history of non-endorsements of candidates.The true roots of The Post's endorsement policy: Even when The Post did not endorse presidential candidates, the paper made clear what it thought. by Karen Attiah (October 27, 2024 at 5:44 p.m. EDT) The Washington Post.
Karen Attiah wrote that Lewis' claim that The Post had a history of non-endorsements was a false narrative, stating that in the times when The Post did not give an explicit endorsement, it laid out the facts about both candidates, making clear to the readerwhich one was better. Attiah noted that even The Post's own 1977 book, The Editorial Page made it clear that the no-endorsement idea was wrong:The Editorial Page, edited by Laura Longley Babb of the Washington Post Writers Group (1977) Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0884750051.
Additionally in 2016, The Post endorsed Hillary Clinton for President, stating:Hillary Clinton for president (October 13, 2016 at 6:06 a.m. EDT) The Washington Post.
In 2020, The Post endorsed Joe Biden for President, stating, calling Trump, "the worst president of modern times".Joe Biden for president (September 28, 2020) The Washington Post.
Since Trump has obviously and publicly only gotten worse since his 2021 U.S. coup attempt,Harris says Trump 'is a fascist' after his ex-chief of staff says he wanted generals like Hitler's: Vice President Kamala Harris says she believes Donald Trump “is a fascist.” by Dan Merica (October 24, 2024 at 8:53 a.m. EDT) AP via The Washington Post. The Coming Trump Revenge Tour: Trump has campaigned on a wave of retaliatory criminal prosecutions. It’s not the first time he’s promised to lock up his rivals — but a second term would be different. by Ankush Khardori (09/30/2024 05:00 AM EDT) Politico.Trump's cognitive deficits seem worse. We need to know if he has dementia: Psychologist by John Gartner (Published 3:15 p.m. ET April 9, 2019 | Updated 4:13 p.m. ET April 9, 2019) USA Today. the timing of editorial neutrality is clearly misplaced.For The Post, the wrong choice at the worst possible time. The newspaper blundered by not endorsing a candidate for president. by Ruth Marcus (October 25, 2024 at 8:21 p.m. EDT) The Washington Post.
Historian Timothy Snyder accused the owners of The Post (Bezos) and the Los Angeles Times' (), which also conspicuously did not endorse, of obeying Trump's tyranny in advance.Obeying in advance: Media billionaires ask for tyranny by Timothy Snyder (Oct 26, 2024) Substack. Not obeying tyranny in advance was one of the tactics that Snyder listed in his book On Tyranny (Resisting looming tyranny).On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder (2017) Tim Duggan Books. ISBN 0804190119.‘Anticipatory obedience’: newspapers’ refusal to endorse shines light on billionaire owners’ motives: The Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post both declined to endorse a candidate – a sign of political media capture by Lois Beckett (Sat 26 Oct 2024 09.14 EDT) The Guardian. The anticipatory obedience of the billionaires is indicative of cowardice.‘Anticipatory obedience’: newspapers’ refusal to endorse shines light on billionaire owners’ motives: The Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post both declined to endorse a candidate – a sign of political media capture by Lois Beckett (26 Oct 2024 09.14 EDT) The Guardian. Former Post editor, Marty Baron, called the decision, "cowardice, with democracy as its casualty."On political endorsement https://wapo.st/3YmeD3T This is cowardice, with democracy as its casualty. @realdonaldtrump will see this as an invitation to further intimidate owner @jeffbezos (and others). Disturbing spinelessness at an institution famed for courage. by Marty Baron (4:18 PM · Oct 25, 2024) Twitter (archived from 26 Oct 2024 00:50:41 UTC).
A more substantive reason for Bezos' stopping the endorsement is that hours before that, executives of one of Bezos other companies, Blue Origin met with Trump.Bezos faces criticism after executives met with Trump on day of Post’s non-endorsement: Executives of Blue Origin briefly met with Trump within hours after paper spiked endorsement of Harris by Michael Sainato (27 Oct 2024 11.55 EDT) The Guardian. Blue Origin is in competition with Elon Musk's SpaceX for dominance in private space travel; Musk has been campaigning and funding Trump's 2024 presidential run.Democrats rip Musk as billionaire takes leading role in Trump campaign by Julia Shapero (10/25/24 6:00 AM ET) The Hill.
Sixteen columnists' credit, opposed the no-endorsement order. Unsurprisingly, the 21 did not include any of the conservative columnists. The protesting columnists are:20.com/opinions/2024/10/25/post-columnist-no-endorsement-2024-trump-harris/ Post columnists respond: The newspaper’s refusal to endorse a presidential candidate is a mistake. (October 25, 2024 at 6:50 p.m. EDT) The Washington Post.
Also, editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes created a dark, painted square, ironically titled, "Democracy Dies in Darkness", which is the slogan that Bezos came up with for the paper just after he bought it.Democracy Dies in Darkness: Ann Telnaes cartoon on The Post not endorsing a presidential candidate. by Ann Telnaes (October 25, 2024 at 6:21 p.m. EDT) The Washington Post.
Regarding the resulting subscription cancellations (which by November 1 was reported at more than 250,000 subscribers, around 10% of the paper's paid circulation)"What happened to all those subscriptions?" by Erik Wempie, Washington Post, 2024 November 1 October 28 and readers' calls for staff resignations, Milbank had this to say:Why I’m not quitting the Post: And why I hope you don’t, either. by Dana Milbank (October 27, 2024 at 4:09 p.m. EDT) The Washington Post.
In defending The Post, Milbank noted that since Bezos' purchase in 2013, The Post has won 18 Pulitzer Prizes for in-depth reporting on:
===Aftermath===
In December 2024, Bezos agreed to donate $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund,Jeff Bezos’ Amazon Planning $1 Million Donation To Trump Inauguration—Matching Meta by Mary Whitfill Roeloffs (Dec 12, 2024, 07:19pm EST) what is effectively a slush fund or bribe.The New Age of Trump: Protection Money and FU You Money by Jonathan V. Last (Dec 13, 2024) The Bullwark. On January 6, 2025, it was revealed that Bezos-owned Amazon Prime Video had already begun filming a hagiographic documentary of Trump's current wife, Melania.Melania Trump documentary from Brett Ratner to be released by Amazon (6 Jan 2025 08.35 EST) Associated Press via The Guardian.
In early January 2025, Telnaes attempted to draw the She showed a rough draft of an editorial cartoon to the editorial board. Rather than approving or suggesting changes, the board prevented it from publication. The cartoon depicted a gaggle of billionaire CEOs (Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Sam Altman of OpenAI, Patrick Soon-Shiong of the Los Angeles Times, Mickey Mouse as a stand-in for The Walt Disney Company, and Bezos) bowing-and-scraping before an enormously bloated president-elect Trump on a pedestal, just as they had done in real life. As a result of The Post's censorship, Telnaes resigned.Why I'm quitting the Washington Post: Democracy can't function without a free press by Ann Telnaes (Jan 03, 2025) Open Windows, Substack. Billionaires are a thin-skinned lot, believing that they are self-made men who are smarter than everyone else. So rich, so powerful they are, yet they obeyed in advance to looming dictatorship.
On January 7, immediately following the resignation of several high-profile journalists, The Post laid off 100 non-journalist staffers.Washington Post lays off roughly 100 staffers as star journalists exit by Liam Reilly (1:31 PM EST, Tue January 7, 2025) CNN. Jennifer Rubin, a conservative opinion columnist who left the Republican party due to Trump,"The GOP ‘Has Become the Caricature the Left Always Said It Was’" by Edward-Isaac Dovere, Politico, 2018 April 17 resigned after 14-years at The Post on January 13 to form a new journalistic publication with The Contrarian.Jen Rubin exits Washington Post, joins Norm Eisen to launch new outlet countering ‘authoritarian threat’ by Brian Stelter (8:45 AM EST, Mon January 13, 2025) CNN. Explaining her resignation, Rubin stated:This is The Contrarian: Not Owned by Anybody by Jennifer Rubin (Jan 13, 2025) Substack.
==See also==
*International Fact-Checking Network
*Bob Woodward, the famous journalist that helped expose Watergate and has also been working for the Post since 1971!
==External links==
*Post website
*"The Washington Post March", written by John Philip Sousa in 1889 (Commissioned by the publishers of the Post) on YouTube
==Notes==
==References==
Category:2024 US presidential election
Category:American media
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