Yes, Bezos Is A Jerk, but No, Don’t Cancel Your Washington Post Subscription

Two weeks before the November 2024 elections, Jeff Bezos, the multibillionaire owner of the Washington Post, ordered cancellation of the newspaper’s planned endorsement of Kamela Harris for President and a right wing shift in its editorial policy.

More than 200,000 subscribers promptly retaliated by cancelling their subscriptions. I didn’t.

Last week, Bezos presided over the crassly managed, unceremonious firing of a third of the editors, writers, researchers and other Post news staff. It’s likely that decision will be met by tens of thousands more subscription cancellations. Mine won’t be one of them.

Why?

We need the Washington Post.

Yes, many excellent reporters, writers and editors have lost their jobs, but two-thirds of those in the news department, about 400 professionals, remain. Even in its diminished form, as long as the products they turn out remain consistent with high journalism standards, they will continue to perform a vital public service. 

The Washington Post as a Public Utility

What is that service? Factual, timely information that affects every aspect of our lives as individuals, families, and communities. And because it is our good fortune to be citizens of a democracy where our votes determine how we are governed, the Post and other professionally run information providers play an essential role in helping ensure that our votes will be based on facts, not fable. 

The Washington Post is a business. It’s also a public utility. Because of its reach in print, in digital format, on podcasts and other communications outlets, millions of Americans depend on the Post for reliable, factual, information.  

What happens if the Post shuts its doors? Too many Americans living in too many places where their newspapers have folded unfortunately have found out. City council and school board meetings go uncovered. State legislatures are less accountable. Sense of community ebbs. Local business suffers. Achievements and achievers in education, sports, public service and other areas of activity aren’t recognized. For that to happen in the nation’s capital, all those losses would be super-sized.

Also, such news “deserts” are vulnerable to well financed special interest information sources that not only are less reliable, but increasingly downright dangerous.

With the Post, a mega-rich guy who’s been spending what’s for him is pocket change to  keep the Post a world class publication has now decided this valuable public asset needs to carry more of its own financial weight and present a different editorial outlook.

Where does that leave those of us who have lived for years with the Post as a beacon of progressive politics and government and comprehensive news coverage?

 With a diminished reliably progressive editorial advocate and a slimmer news and information diet.

A Smaller Newsroom, The Same National Reach

I cringe at some of the political cartoons I now see on the editorial pages. For those old enough to remember, I yearn for the reincarnation of Herb Block. I miss so many of the bylines I once turned to eagerly and will never adjust to the mishmash of sports/style/metro all-in-one section.

We’re losing much of sports, books and other coverage. I dread the day they announce the end of the Sunday comics. I’ve been reading Prince Valiant since I was 10 years old. He can’t die on me now.

Nevertheless, even in its diminished form, the Post continues to matter. A lot.

It covers Congress, the White House, important federal agencies and everything else in the federal government like no other publication other than the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. It appears that won’t change.

The Post also routinely takes deep and expensive dives into complex topics such as the treatment of veterans at the now closed Walter Reed Hospital, the truth behind the lies that kept us in Afghanistan and other reporter intensive investigations. Hopefully, that won’t be much affected, either. I expect even with the lay-offs, the Post will continue to be one of the world’s most important sources for reliable news and perspective.  

Why the Washington Post Still Matters in the Digital Age

Since the turn of the 21st century, the daily newspaper monopolies have yielded their news gateway status to the digital revolution of web sites, social media, YouTube, and other sources. News consumers now have a long and varied menu to scan for their news diet. 

Lament the loss of hundreds of daily and weekly newspapers, and the jobs for news people that went with them, and I do. But I also cheer the fact that now I can read the work of many good reporters, columnists and authorities who have migrated to investigative journalism organizations such as Pro Publica, on-line publications like Slate, fast-growing non-profit journalism outlets and individual voice megaphones provided by Substack.  

Nevertheless, the traditional locally-focused newsroom, with its dedication to reliable sources, insistence on fact, not fiction, in the hands of experienced editors, trained journalists and subject matter experts, is irreplaceable in our information-dependent democracy.  Whether the output of their work is on paper or digital doesn’t matter as long as it’s trustworthy.

My opinion of Bezos for ordering this purge is unprintable. The disrespectful way he has treated his current Washington Post staff is despicable.

 But as long as the professional journalists remaining at the Post continue to provide me with information I need and trust, I’m keeping my subscription.

Comments? Criticism? Contact Joe Rothstein at jrothstein@rothstein.net

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