<p>Will he get rid of all the photographers like the Chicago Sun-Times?
[Jeff</a> Bezos on Post purchase - The Washington Post](<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/jeff-bezos-on-post-purchase/2013/08/05/e5b293de-fe0d-11e2-9711-3708310f6f4d_story.html]Jeff”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/jeff-bezos-on-post-purchase/2013/08/05/e5b293de-fe0d-11e2-9711-3708310f6f4d_story.html)</p>
<p>We sure could use a decent newspaper in Seattle, but I think Bezos moved to L.A.</p>
<p>James Fallows has, as usual, a good take on this: [Why</a> the Sale of the Washington Post Seems So Significant - James Fallows - The Atlantic](<a href=“Why the Sale of The Washington Post Seems So Significant - The Atlantic”>Why the Sale of The Washington Post Seems So Significant - The Atlantic)</p>
<p>How long has Katherine Graham been dead? I wonder if she would have supported a sale? Well, the newspaper business isn’t what it used to be. NYT company just sold the Boston Globe…at a significant loss, according to one news report. It’s a sad day when an independent newspaper is sold or closed in this country.</p>
<p>The world is constantly changing. </p>
<p>I must say that I wouldn’t feel completely comfortable buying something from Warren Buffettt, who is a major Washington Post shareholder.</p>
<p>As a Washington area resident, I think it’s probably a good thing. Bezos bought the Post personally (not through Amazon), for 250 million bucks. He’s worth 25 billion. He doesn’t need to worry about the paper making money, in contrast with its current owner, which is not the Grahams, but a publicly-traded company.</p>
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That’s an understatement–the Times paid over a billion just for the Globe, and sold it plus other properties for 70 million.</p>
<p>Although a public company, the Grahams control nearly 100% of the voting stock in the supervotiing stock arrangement that the Post is organized under. They also hold nearly 40% of the regular stock. Buffett owns just over 20% of the regular stock.</p>
<p>There was a joke in one of Buffetts old shareholder letters about a farmer with a mule who sometimes limped. He took him to a vet and asked what to do. The vets advice was to wait until he wasn’t limping, and sell him. (Of course, Bezos is no dummy, and can afford some subpar economic performance. It probably qualifies as a “hobby” purchase for him…a little bit like owning a sports team.)</p>
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This is what I’m hoping–or even better, that he sees it as a public service purchase, like some of the things he’s donated money to. Maybe he won’t wreck it.</p>
<p>Sign of the times–so to speak–that only a few years ago newspapers were buying baseball teams–Tribune owning Cubs, but now it’s baseball teams owning newspapers–John Henry (Red Sox) buying Globe. </p>
<p>We’re long removed from Citizen Kane.</p>
<p>Just hope the Peeps contest continues. I wait for it all year.</p>
<p>Maybe our Post will come with some Intelligencer…</p>
<p>sign of the times they maybe people are sick of liberal rags and just want the news…straight.</p>
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Yeah, that’s why the Washington Times has been so much more successful than the Post.</p>
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<p>Over the years, the Post has become much less liberally biased. I rarely feel like I am being mislead by the Post. Did this happen from competition from the Washington Time? I don’t know, but I suspect competition put pressure on the Post to become more reliable. I often feel mislead by the NYT. The NYT is still a liberal rag with an agenda, unfortunately. </p>
<p>I don’t know if Bezos will make the NYT a better newspaper, but I doubt it.</p>
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Nah, very few people took it seriously, because it was a pathetic rag from day one. It could have been competition from the Wall Street Journal, though. A lot of people in DC read that.</p>
<p>Like razorsharp I’ve perceived a decrease in liberal bias…I used to be able to guess editorial positions, and it’s not so easy anymore. I’m hoping good things will happen with the Post and the new owner may be the best way to figure out a way to adapt to today’s publishing realities.</p>
<p>I think of Citizen Kane. He buys the newspaper and when told he’ll lose a million a year - which back then was a true fortune - he says at that rate, he’ll run out of money in 100 years.</p>
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<p>Not really. The Washington Times has been a surprisingly good newspaper given its ownership. When it was purchased by the moonies, there was a lot of talk that it would become a propaganda piece for the new owners. Fortunately that did not happen. Its news reporting is pretty accurate and not nearly as biased as is the NYT. </p>
<p>edit: in my earlier post I meant to refer to Bezos making the Post better not the NYT although I would be happy for him to buy the NYT just to see if there is a chance it might get better.</p>
<p>The Washington Times was founded by the Unification Church, and (in my opinion) was always terrible, and it wasn’t really independent from the church, although it claimed to be. It never had much circulation, either. Reagan read it, though, so it had some influence–maybe it had a good horoscope. I just mentioned it to needle geeps.</p>
<p>Bezos is an innovator and he has money to burn. He could be the best thing for the Post and for developing a new business model for all newspapers. The railroads suffered because they thought they were in the railroad business…not the transportation business. Newspapers are not in the paper business…they’re in the news business and it’s a digital age now. Bezos understands digital, the internet, and he knows how to make money…combining with the Post sounds like a winning formula–for everyone.</p>
<p>Craig’s List killed newspapers. If you can’t get advertisers, you can’t make enough money to pay the employees who make the newspaper what it is. </p>
<p>(I remember when UPI was bought out by the moonies and Helen Thomas quit in protest. Can’t say that I take anything the Wash Times publishes as much more than partisan blather.) </p>
<p>I will watch to see how the Post goes with Bezos in charge. He’s a libertarian and has some different ideas, some of which made their way to Amazon.</p>