As one of the richest people in the world, they're literally drowning in F-U Money, but they'll cater and cowtow to a complete piece of human garbage for a shot at another buck.
Imagine being that rich, but looking like you were both at the age of 50+. All you’d want is to be liked, and cool. But nobody is ever going to like him, and he still doesn’t look anywhere close to cool. Karma sucks, eh?
If he thinks Trump will do anything good for him, he’s the dumbest billionaire out there. Trump does nothing for anyone unless it a) increases his wealth b) flatters him c) punishes those that don’t bow to him
What if the week prior to the most important election of our lives was meant to showcase the lack of courage of the world's second richest man versus the craven depravity of the world's richest man just one day after the vile venomous vituperative Charles Lindbergh rally of assorted rogues.
I’ve decided to stop supporting a man worth more than two hundred thousand million dollars who decides his bottom line is more important than the democracy that helped him become worth more than two hundred thousand million dollars.
Seriously friends, do your very best not to use Amazon. They're extortionary to publishers. They kill local businesses. Recently they're prices aren't even that cheap. We need to bust trusts again.
This paragon of impartiality he refers to was biased and distorted the paper's output in favour of Republicans, even according to his Wikipedia article.
Right? I have a really hard time believing this was spontaneous like he claimed, seeing as Blue Origin's corporate offices are in south Seattle. Someone traveled for several hours to make that meeting happen.
What’s hilarious is he says he’s doing it because people find the news untrustworthy. Man, read the room. In an incredibly divisive election he chooses to alter course from the norm & go against his editorial boards recommendation. I’m no expert, but might be a better way to instill trustworthiness.
endorsing tells us where the owner stands. if endorsements don’t move the needle, how is it principled to do or not do them? but it is cowardly to hide one’s stance when one owns a big newspaper.
Trust in media is dropping because of people exactly like Jeff Bezos, scooping up media outlets for their own personal gain. This is like an arsonist lecturing about fire safety and the flammability of houses.
It's a weird modern thing that people pretend that there's some objective "neutral balance" pose that they can achieve, rather than absolutely everyone irreducibly having their own opinions and readers trusting them _much more_ if that's acknowledged.
He’s a wealthy, entitled, white guy - don’t question his privilege. *EXTREME SARCASM with a large side of frustration & a helping of righteous indignation.
He doesn't care if you think he fucked up or how much money it costs him. This is him telling you he intends to force his vision of the world on you via his wealth and that there's nothing you can do about it.
Sure, none of those connecting events with meeting Trump were not timed. He must think the knowledgeable voter is an idiot when it comes to public optics.
Yeah, this claim was a bit of a head-scratcher to me, too. I'm no expert, but the c-suite for Blue Origin are mostly here in the Seattle area, so this was a "spontaneous" meeting that probably required several hours of travel by at least one party? 🤔
At least he didn't try to throw the editors under the bus like the owner on the LA Times did. But I still cancelled my subscription tonight after reading that letter.
Even if you take him purely on his own terms—rebuilding trust—he completely fucked up. He acts like the timing (so close to this major election, a candidate meeting with his company) is just unfortunate, but if you’re trying to build trust you should be specifically thinking of those things!
At least, for people at the top of organizations. Career hires at federal agencies attending conferences still have to ask who provided the coffee and donuts before deciding if they can take any.
I’m sure that in a low trust environment, people who aren’t willing to trust journalists will take a billionaire at his word that he’s just acting on principles
The more depressing part is Musk mostly *is* acting on "principles." Not that he isn't self-interested and rent-seeking and all that, but he totally believes this stuff. He's not faking it in the way Bezos is obviously faking this to put a fig leaf over him making ham-fisted deals for contracts.
Have you seen his girlfriend? This man is batshit insane. BATSHIT. We live in an oligarchy, it is already here, we let America become their plaything. I need to figure out a ten year plan to get my girls and I the f out of this dystopia.
The smartest thing he could have done in this fallout period would be shut the hell up and stay low profile. But apparently all that money rubbed his callouses off and left his skin very thin.
I disagree. I think they should have published this piece to lead into the non-endorsement, but his stance rings true. Media should indeed not express bias.
That's unnecessary. So far as I can see Jeff Bezos expressed an opinion in the Opinions section of the paper, hence I don't understand Daniel's response.
If you think it's fine for Jeff Bezos to express an opinion in the opinions section but you don't think it's fine for editorial writers to do the same, I can't help you.
Every human perspective includes biases. There is no such thing as unbiased journalism, whether or not a publication chooses to endorse in a presidential race. So yes, *making* an endorsement is, on its own, *not* an amplifier of any bias if it is made in a considered and thoughtful way.
Quite - in that sense all expressed opinion is inherently biased. The point is that 'good' media should strive to recognize and eliminate bias. Endorsing a candidate is explicitly giving up on striving toward that ideal.
So do you think newspapers should eliminate the editorial entirely?
IMO papers and journalists should be open about the factors that inform their opinions and biases and not pretend they don’t exist. Bias also influences what gets covered and how. There is no perfect objective standard.
No not at all - editorials and opinions sections exist for the explicit purpose of signposting that what follows is the writer's opinion. I agree with Bezos' point that media has become *too* partisan and the balance needs redressing.
Jesus. Principles my ass. And then have the gall to say the dude who was publisher DURING THE NAZI REGIME here in Europe, was right not to say anything either way? okay.
Just like Trump. And Musk. And the other egomaniacs who can never admit they're wrong.
We have got to vote for the Democrats and keep these power-hungry authoritarian jackasses from controlling this country.
Yes please, Linda. Many of us like the things that are in your head.
(I’m worried that that sounds creepy… but creepy in a fannish way, or creepy in an “unintentionally hilarious because it’s Halloween and I sound like a zombie” way? You decide! This election has broken my brain!)
It has definitely taken the steam out of my don’t unsubscribe from the post unsubscribe from Amazon campaign, though. I’m not gonna listen to this guy pretend he’s a journalist.
He was too busy picking out very tight clothes to wear to a Halloween party this week and helping his wife choose the least amount of clothing she can wear outdoors and not get arrested.
Ew did he marry that woman whose brother tried to blackmail him with photos of her? Iirc, she was a Trump supporter. Idk how you can go from lovely Mackenzie Scott to her.
"This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. "- FD
The only thing more pathetic than a rich person without courage is a billionaire without courage. I mean... worst case scenario he loses everything, and he's just like the rest of us schmucks except we actually have a teaspoon of courage.
If anyone knew where to just buy a knock-off hot dog costume from a six-letter brand with lax attitudes to safety regulations on Halloween week, you’d think it was Jeff.
What?!
A child wrote this thing?!
I only read a text that didn't have a central point and a solid argument.
Yeah, maybe the text had historical arguments, but, it is insufficient. A child wrote a better text
Also irritating for Bezos to frame the whole editorial around “oh I’m so very concerned about perceptions of fairness” while not bothering to look at what actually causes changes in perceptions of fairness” https://bsky.app/profile/davelevitan.bsky.social/post/3l7meffx5a52p
11,000 comments might help with that. Increasing credibility of the paper is a good idea but picking a timetable like this week to supposedly step in that direction is post factual rationalisation.
It's nice for me to know he's consciously sucking up to MAGA types by eliminating things they will point to as reasons they can't trust the news media. There are plenty of additional editorial decisions they will be happy to dictate to him, I'm sure. He's the one guy smart enough to make it work. 🙄
He had the easiest out of this whole mess after that Trump rally in New York and decided to double down in the most insulting way to his staff and readers, it's truly incredible
if he doesn’t have any confidence in the American public to trust the media, what does he own two newspapers. Aren’t they media?
He needs to go back to Amazon and stay there get out of our faces
He’s such a piece of shit. “You could see my wealth as a bulwark against intimidation.” What ridiculous, transparent, self serving drivel. He says *that* as someone who won capitalism by always choosing money over principles. He doesn’t like that the public sees this for what it is.
"Some changes will be a return to the past, and some will be new inventions. Criticism will be part and parcel of anything new, of course."
Sooo the return from the past stuff is taken in without critique? Yeah, I think that Bezos will thrive just fine within a facist society.
what's the point of having more money than god if you still have to censor your pet newspaper for the delicate sensibilities of a tyrant that isn't even going to win
But did you not see him clear the air about the quid pro quo? He said there wasn’t one, and I certainly trust him not to be dishonest; he owns a newspaper, after all!
He sighed sooooo hard. It’s overwhelming being him, owning so many companies (which he helpfully listed for us!) that you just can’t keep up with which CEO under you is meeting with which insurrectionist felon.
Even if there wasn’t an explicit one that doesn’t mean it wasn’t an attempt to garner influence or avoid the potential punishment that Trump threatens against all who oppose him.
One thing’s for sure , he didn’t write it. It was written by a lackey instructed to do something to get him out of a hole. The truth is billionaire Bezos remains both greedy and devoid of a moral compass. He simply saw angering Trump as bad for business. That is how corrosive Trump is.
This is, also, an example that having a lot of money doesn't make you smart, because the smart play here would have been to shut the fuck up and let this blow over, which, sadly, it would have.
In the act of whining about it, he's just told the wolves he's wounded.
Gee, I remember when it was just the left that couldn't trust it. It perpetuated Vietnam and the pentagon. It's a puppet to advertisers. Why did news like Mother Jones, The Nation and Salon come along. We didn't trust mainstream news. I don't know why WAPO is saying just "Americans."
“What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias.”
I just don’t think that’s true. Accurate reporting that contradicts a person’s priors creates a perception of bias. Colbert pointed this out 18 years ago. Endorsement whining is a cover.
The world that the 1% occupy is such that it’s always everyone else who fucked up. By having a contrary position. Bezos can’t “own” a fuckup he doesn’t perceive he’s made.
Saying he didn’t know the CEO of Blue Origin was meeting with Trump is complete and utter bullshit. Secret Service advance teams wouldn’t have it any other way, especially in Trump’s case. What a crock.
"There was no quid pro quo" is not the same as "I did not override the judgment of my editorial board to curry favor with Trump." It's the Justices Thomas and Alito definition of bribery. As long as no one calls it bribe out loud, it's not really a bribe.
All he wants is to continue his defense contracts, keep his money, and earn more money
It was never about the news
I mean, why else would he sue NASA for having the gall to reject him for Boeing and SpaceX (which although i have many problems with them, they’re still infinitely better than BO)
I'd bet he did exactly what he intended. He basically blamed all of use for not believing him as apposed to the real reason people no longer trust the media. His gaslighting is always just under the surface.
I guess maybe that one time someone tried to blackmail him and he was able to spoil that for them by fessing up right away sort of counts. (That was him, right? Those guys all look alike to me.)
please, I challenge you to find one instance in those 11 years where he has prevailed upon anyone at The Post in favor of his own interests (last 7 days are excluded ok? those don't count)
He's right about one thing at least, we don't trust WaPo anymore.
I do like that he touched on the value of a trusted media because that is a massive part of a properly functioning democracy. Unfortunately, a large portion of the media act like that trust is given by default, rather than earned
@washingtonpost.com. Jeff Bizos, and your billionaire buddies are despicable cowards of the worst kind. You only care about your power and money. I hope your paper fails. Shame on you.
That patronizing editorial was a pretty foolish move that ensures his legacy as an out-of-touch, self-serving oligarch; he'd have been better off keeping his damn mouth shut.
I don't have a WaPo subscription, so I'll close my Amazon account. Futile gesture, maybe, but it's a start.
Comments
(And $205,600,000,000? Whoo boy.)
As one of the richest people in the world, they're literally drowning in F-U Money, but they'll cater and cowtow to a complete piece of human garbage for a shot at another buck.
Embarrassing.
🤬🤬🤬
People don’t trust billionaires.
The irony of forcing the newspaper you own, to run an op-ed you forced them to, whining about "distrusting news".
Like throwing a brick throwing a window to tell the people inside you are not really violent. What the hell
https://eattherichtextformat.github.io/1-pixel-wealth/
Kick em in the balls instead!
But wait...BlueSky....?
really good satire piece on this y'all should check out
1) This thing.
2) The thing you did 3 days ago.
"It's not me, it must be the kids who are wrong."
Let me give you an extra nudge.
Got it.
That the media trust crisis is due in part to candidate endorsements.
I'm not aware of anyone ever making that claim.
WaPo endorsements are seemingly the prime mover on trust… even though they’ve been doing them decades longer than the problem.
Killing them and losing 8% of your sub base is not a trust problem… somehow
Once again ignoring the advice of the professionals who work for him.
IMO papers and journalists should be open about the factors that inform their opinions and biases and not pretend they don’t exist. Bias also influences what gets covered and how. There is no perfect objective standard.
Also trying to twist his own corruption into a fight for unbiased fairness is some 1984 level stuff.
We have got to vote for the Democrats and keep these power-hungry authoritarian jackasses from controlling this country.
(I’m worried that that sounds creepy… but creepy in a fannish way, or creepy in an “unintentionally hilarious because it’s Halloween and I sound like a zombie” way? You decide! This election has broken my brain!)
You had one job, Jeff.
A child wrote this thing?!
I only read a text that didn't have a central point and a solid argument.
Yeah, maybe the text had historical arguments, but, it is insufficient. A child wrote a better text
He has some weird concept of what is at stake.
He needs to go back to Amazon and stay there get out of our faces
What exactly are the stakes again? He doesn’t quite get around to talking about that. I wonder if that’s why people are bothered 🤔
YES, I WONDER WHY, IT IS TRULY A MYSTERY OF THE AGES
Sooo the return from the past stuff is taken in without critique? Yeah, I think that Bezos will thrive just fine within a facist society.
And all those podcasts are just so mean to him 😢
When no one can tell the difference based on the paper's outcome it doesn't matter.
I am increasingly falling into the billionaires-should-not-exist camp.
In the act of whining about it, he's just told the wolves he's wounded.
Neither do I
I just don’t think that’s true. Accurate reporting that contradicts a person’s priors creates a perception of bias. Colbert pointed this out 18 years ago. Endorsement whining is a cover.
If he thinks he's going to move far enough right to bring over WSJ subscribers he's absolutely out of his gourd.
It was never about the news
I mean, why else would he sue NASA for having the gall to reject him for Boeing and SpaceX (which although i have many problems with them, they’re still infinitely better than BO)
Start by not using Amazon; buy from small local retailers, craft- makers and artists instead.
I don't think this is an especially difficult decision, Jeff.
I guess maybe that one time someone tried to blackmail him and he was able to spoil that for them by fessing up right away sort of counts. (That was him, right? Those guys all look alike to me.)
I do like that he touched on the value of a trusted media because that is a massive part of a properly functioning democracy. Unfortunately, a large portion of the media act like that trust is given by default, rather than earned
Or maybe that isn't what he wants?
Yeah they fucking do, so let them endorse Harris. 💀
I don't have a WaPo subscription, so I'll close my Amazon account. Futile gesture, maybe, but it's a start.
Yeah. What would make him more “ideal” would be to shut the fuck up and stay out of operations entirely.