Jeff Bezos may have buyer’s remorse.
But unlike one of his Amazon customers, he can’t just request a return. The billionaire purchased the Washington Post in 2013. At the time, I wondered if he had inhaled too many warehouse fumes: One of the richest men alive is diving into media?
Nobody gets into this business to get richer. Journalism is a labour of love that extends from the reception desk to the C-suites. This was a noble investment. Mr. Bezos wanted to ensure the survival of an influential broadsheet. He would be a benevolent media mogul, operating behind the curtains as his journalists worked without interference.
Now those journalists are questioning his motives and leadership.
It all started a few days ago when Bezos made an executive decision: his paper would stop endorsing presidential candidates. Huh? The Post has catalogued Donald Trump’s myriad lies. If you converted the Exxon Valdez oil spill into ink, it wouldn’t be enough to print the Post columns just in recent months that have declared Trump unfit for office.
So why is Bezos skittish about picking sides when democracy allegedly hangs in the balance? Is this “the most important election in history”? Or should voters treat it like they’re buying new socks at Target?
Pick a side, Jeff. Take a stand. Have a sense of urgency.
No endorsement is like a new Febreze air freshener that smells like mildew.
What stinks here is the timing. Bezos said this was a “principled decision.” He’d have a stronger case if he made this call months ago — not one week before the election. He could have avoided many newsroom resignations this week and more than 200,000 cancelled subscriptions from disgusted readers if he did not personally kill a presidential endorsement for Kamala Harris that was carefully considered, written and ready to go.
Bezos wrote a column this week to explain his “principled decision.” He says trust in the media has cratered. Endorsements only “create a perception of bias.” But, respectfully, a bias in favour of the greater good is never a bad thing for a newspaper to embrace. It’s actually the mission statement.
He also said the media must avoid “victim mentality.” This amounts to victim blaming. As Bezos writes later in his column: “Many people are turning to off-the-cuff podcasts, inaccurate social media posts and other unverified news sources, which can quickly spread misinformation and deepen divisions.”
Agreed. But how is this the media’s fault? We’re not telling people to get their news from conspiracy theorists or crazy uncles on Facebook. Election meddlers from foreign adversaries are not infiltrating the pages of the New York Times. They are spreading misinformation and deepening divisions on X. And it’s super easy now that Elon Musk has turned his social network into a toxic sewer that reverse-pumps feces directly into Trumpville.
Elon has proven there is no correlation between net worth and self-worth. He’s a clown performing in a birthday party for one man.
The world expects more of Mr. Bezos. We need him to not chicken out.
If he’s so concerned about a “perception of bias,” that’s all the more reason to unshackle his editorial board. Bezos seems to forget this “perception of bias” is now spread by one presidential candidate — and it’s not the one the Washington Post planned to endorse before he nervously yelled, “Stop the presses!”
It is Trump who calls the press “the enemy of the people.” It is Trump who demands journalists be fired when he doesn’t like their questions or fact-checks. It is Trump who vows to revoke broadcast licences because he objects to the coverage. It is Trump who encourages his red hats to hiss and boo at reporters in the media pen covering his Hate Fest rallies, like the one at Madison Square Garden this weekend.
These alone are good reasons for any newspaper to endorse Kamala Harris.
Jeff Bezos is right to worry about trust in media. But shirking editorial responsibility only accelerates the distrust when staffers and sensible readers are left wondering if the guy at the top is making a “principled decision” or is terrified about possible retribution should Trump win.
It’s not an unreasonable fear. You can see it in the eyes of business titans as this bizarre election remains “too close to call.” But fear is the enemy of journalism.
Bezos took risks his entire life. Amazon is now to shopping as the Model T was to commuting. That is why his decision to not let his paper pick a side is so disappointing. If the Post’s slogan is “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” now more than ever, it needs to turn on the floodlights.
It needs to take a stand and not twitch nervously in the shadows.
Donald Trump is a narcissist, bully, grifter and con man.
Endorsing his opponent can only leave you on the right side of history.
