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Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris

cnbc.com

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Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris

#551

Post by devindotcom »

rightbyte wrote: post #515
mmooss wrote: post #473

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> assumption that Bezos would not just be supporting him. Where is that assumption in my GP comment? I said Bezos gave Trump the most powerful endorsement possible. (The rest of the parent is a distraction.)

It might be vague: "Bezos and the Washington Post [...] have bent the knee." I read "bent the knee" as some sort of humiliation? I.e. Bezos don't really want to support Trump, but did anyway. Also on "thedonald" it was used as some sort of "humiliated loser folding in line" meme which is why I namedroped it. English is not my native tongue so I get such nuances wrong sometimes.

"Bending the knee" is a way to say that someone knelt - going down on one knee, a sign of loyalty and subservience. In this context it implies Bezos acknowledges Trump as an authority he submits to.

Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris

#553

Post by dmix »

noirbot wrote: post #516
wannacboatmovie wrote: post #500

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Killing the endorsement is much more notable than just letting it happen It's only notable because the staff was upset and leaked the backstory in retaliation. A newspaper is a business; it's not the town square. Imagine working for a company and going public every time your boss did something you disagreed with.

That's ignoring that he's running a business that's literally to report on things that important people like him do. An engineer at Amazon's job isn't to write about Amazon's business dealings to the public. The opinion and editorial board of a newspaper is literally there to write about what people like Bezos do. It would have been notable even if they hadn't been public about it, just because the Post has endorsed…

Regardless the more likely explanation is that this is a news story regardless of internal leaking. People will notice WaPo didn’t endorse anyone and someone’s going to say something.

Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris

#554

Post by didibus »

mandevil wrote: post #299
dotnet00 wrote: post #257

I like this trend of taking neutral positions that seems to be picking up again, although the timing for this doesn't look good. Just as how universities are starting to adopt neutrality, so should news outlets.

"What is truth?" asked the powerful Roman governor of Judea, of a man accused of blasphemy two millennia ago, and we still don't know. What is "neutrality" for a university? Is creationism "neutral"? It was a huge political deal in the US for decades (though it seems to have died down recently), but in the 1980's, 1990's, and into the 2000's there were plenty of people who wanted creationism taught in science classes…

I think it depends how people interpret neutral. Choosing what to talk about or not in itself has influence. It's impossible to be a newspaper and not in any way help or support one side over another in a conflict, even if you don't intend too, you will be, you might even be helping the side you don't cheer for inadvertently, because it's also hard to predict what direction what you say will influence others.

In that sense, I agree with you.

But you can interpret neutral more as not attempting to influence. In that sense, it does not mean the result will be neutral, but that you tried to be. Neutrality is an effort, like trying to be kind to others, or to be positive. It's an attempt at curbing bias. And I think that's something you'd want journalists to practice. Just like it's beneficial to have people try to be kind and positive, even if it's impossible for them to truly be at all times and to the most extent, it does make the world a better place still when people try.

Now, if you tried to read news, and wanted to form your own opinion, would you rather read the one from someone purposely siding with one side, and specifically choosing their words and what to say in a conscious effort to bring you over to their position? Or would you rather read the one from someone attempting to be impartial, disclosing their bias from the start so you can weigh it in, attempting to show the arguments against theirs, as well as their own, spend some time to discuss the other viewpoint, have quotes from both sides, etc.

Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris

#555

Post by tbrownaw »

rufus_foreman wrote: post #494
lapcat wrote: post #296

Newspapers publish opinions for the same reason that they publish comic strips: people want to read them. Readers seek them out. Newspapers are a business and have to give their customers what they want. The problematic aspect here is that the current business owner, Jeff Bezos, has a conflict of interest. Bezos is making a bad business decision for The Washington Post, sacrificing it and losing readers for the sake…

[flagged]

Opinion articles aren't about the opinion (well, technical sw dev articles where I'm looking for the standard way to do something are, but not non-industry news stuff) unless the writer is in a position to make their opinion matter, they're about the reasons for the opinion. They're interesting if there are reasons that are interesting, or if the writer's choice of reasons is interesting.

Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris

#556

Post by thimabi »

carbatterylife wrote: post #331

[flagged]

> Couldn't a simple answer here be that he felt Kamala is unqualified and terrible and as a newspaper with a lot of readership and influence, he decided against endorsing her?

Sure, but why should the personal opinion of the owner of the newspaper prevail over the opinion of the editorial staff?

Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris

#557

Post by [deleted] »

xyst wrote: post #454

A single man issued an edict and ended decades of precedent/history. All for the sake of the mighty dollar and ensuring his multibillion dollar fortune doesn’t take a tumble by a 5-10B in the _possibility_ the wrong candidate gets elected. Everything is awful about this. What would it take WaPo away from this horrible person?

[deleted]

Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris

#558

Post by [deleted] »

tbrownaw wrote: post #555
rufus_foreman wrote: post #494

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Opinion articles aren't about the opinion (well, technical sw dev articles where I'm looking for the standard way to do something are, but not non-industry news stuff) unless the writer is in a position to make their opinion matter, they're about the reasons for the opinion. They're interesting if there are reasons that are interesting, or if the writer's choice of reasons is interesting.

[deleted]

Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris

#559

Post by kelnos »

lerjan wrote: post #173
moduspol wrote: post #52

More interesting to me is that this is the third tech billionaire to take a decidedly different stance than he did previously. Musk is quite active, but even Zuckerberg took a much more neutral stance for 2024. Honestly I'm more surprised that Bezos even bothered. Does he really think the endorsement of The Washington Post editorial board is so significant that it's worth intervening? That seems implausible.

[flagged]

Presidents get far too much praise or criticism for the state of the economy. In reality, their effect on it is fairly limited, especially over such a short span like 4 years.

Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris

#560

Post by cozzyd »

dclowd9901 wrote: post #260
moduspol wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's certainly possible, though if he truly felt pressured that way, he could do a lot more than waiting until 11 days before an election to simply withhold an endorsement.

Like what?

Jumping up and down like a lunatic.
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