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Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris

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Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris

#981

Post by nomdep »

eapressoandcats wrote: post #881
nomdep wrote: post #858

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, so if he wins (seems likely even to WaPo) and those thing doesn’t happen, are you going to think “I was wrong” or double down on “he really wanted to do it but they didn’t let him”

So, he did win and a lot of bad things did happen. Trump withheld disaster aid from blue states: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-de... Trump already punished Amazon for the Washington Post’s reporting: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/washington-post-endo... And like, if you don’t believe any of that reporting, listen to the man himself? Like he regularly and personally advocates putt…

Sorry, your perception of reality is so far from mine that nothing I could write here would matter. It's like you live in a parallel universe.

To me, the US has become basically 1984 the last 10+ years but because of the "left", that has become so radicalized, that now everyone and everything to the right to Stanlin is labelled far-right/nazi/hitler/etc.

Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris

#982

Post by reverius42 »

themaninthedark wrote: post #937
reverius42 wrote: post #786

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To put a finer point to it, some politicians use “alternative facts.”

As do some news organizations; For how long exactly did the news claim that Trump was talking about Nazis when he said there were "Fine people on both sides"? https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-very-fine-people/ If I Google "Russian Pee Tape", Business Insider is the 3rd result with claims that the tape most likely exists. 1st being Mashable and 2nd being Buzzfeed. https://www.businessinsider.com/christopher-ste…

When he said there were "fine people on both sides", he clarified that he was not speaking about Nazis; however, it is clear (even/especially with his clarification) that he was indeed talking about those on the same side as the Nazis ("both sides"). To many non-Nazi-adjacent folks, simply being on the same side as the Nazis (and not, like, kicking them out of your protest/party/social circle) actually does make you a Nazi too. From that perspective, it's logically impossible for there to be "fine people on both sides", if you admit that one side allows and agrees with Nazis. And are we still debating post-MSG-rally whether Trump believes the Nazis are very fine people?

As for the "Russian Pee Tape", I'll give you that one -- fake news sure exists. (I think if it was real, it would have leaked by now -- no pun intended.)

Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris

#983

Post by selimthegrim »

tightbookkeeper wrote: post #930
selimthegrim wrote: post #592

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reminds me of when The New Republic had a bunch of staff quit en masse because the new imported editor was blatantly bullshitting them. He didn’t realize that he was talking to a bunch of professional journalists who knew exactly what being bullshit was like.

Was that the story they wrote about themselves?

It may have been.

Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris

#984

Post by Slava_Propanei »

ajross wrote: post #198
greenthrow wrote: post #165

So many times HN posters have extolled how Bezos hasn't interfered with the WaPo and those of us who expressed concern about his purchase were chicken littles. It has never been true and it's plain as day now. He bought it for the same reason Musk bought Twitter. To have control over a media outlet he values.

Well, it might have been true until now. Certainly there's no previous good evidence for Bezos-directed coverage or editing at the Post. But regardless: you were right. I was one of the folks who viewed him as a basically benign entity who, sure, had opinions of his own, but clearly would never put his fingers on the editorial scale. And I was wrong, and he isn't.

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Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris

#985

Post by Slava_Propanei »

calf wrote: post #765
dotnet00 wrote: post #577

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calling an important aspect of most cultures as "propaganda" is rich. You don't have to be religious (I'm not religious and wasn't religious at that time either) to recognize that it's useful to understand those beliefs and how we worked our way to the modern age. That's how you help students to learn our current understanding of the world such that they are less susceptible to eating up blatant lies and believing th…

Creationism is an American protofascist phenomenon, it actually is propaganda and does not need to be taught in a science class in order to nurture and develop critical thinking skills. If you are referring to traditional cultures, they have creation myths which are better suited for social sciences classes. Showing both sides of the debate is itself a worse form of indoctrination. Haha, look at how creationism is ps…

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Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris

#986

Post by fenomas »

nomel wrote: post #968
fenomas wrote: post #657

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Publishing an editorial endorsing a candidate is extremely common, both for US papers generally and for this paper specifically. The reasons for that are various but they have nothing to do with what we're discussing here. 2. Moreover, that whole question is irrelevant when the editors aren't even making the decision. If Bezos is willing to override them, then effectively he is the paper's editorial board - so the…

Could you explain the benefits of having a biased, rather than balanced, editorial department?

No, because that's a straw man. What many people want is a balanced, unbiased editorial department that weighs the facts as they see them and then publishes an endorsement.

Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris

#987

Post by gwern »

mmooss wrote: post #407
gwern wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The newspaper also published an article by two staff reporters saying that editorial page staffers had drafted an endorsement of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris over GOP nominee Donald Trump in the election. This is a bizarre way to use his control as a owner. If you own a newspaper or tabloid, we know from Trump how you use it effectively: you practice 'catch and kill', or you kill your own inconvenient stories,…

It's in fact a very powerful endorsement of Trump, IMHO: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41951373

If it's so powerful, why is Bezos also apparently now pushing for a lot of changes in the actual writing and ordered conservative writers added to the op-ed board? https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/25/business/media/washington... and started defending it publicly: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/28/jeff-bezo...

Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris

#988

Post by Buttons840 »

My first thought is that it's sad that a billionaire owner can override the will and culture of the journalists that compose the paper.

My second thought is that it's really bad that this could have been done in order to help Blue Origin get government contracts.

Think about it, the actions of a news paper are being influenced by what's best for a aerospace company. How did this happen? It happened because more and more companies, across all industries, are owned by fewer and fewer people.

Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris

#989

Post by Slava_Propanei »

throwaway5752 wrote: post #434

I'm going to rewrite something verbatim the other candidate posted on his social media network: CEASE & DESIST: I, together with many Attorneys and Legal Scholars, am watching the Sanctity of the 2024 Presidential Election very closely because I know, better than most, the rampant Cheating and Skullduggery that has taken place by the Democrats in the 2020 Presidential Election. It was a Disgrace to our Nation! Theref…

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Re: Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris

#990

Post by Slava_Propanei »

bitwize wrote: post #146
jmcclell wrote: post #62

It makes sense in so much as "it's a risk to our business to endorse Harris because of the risk of falling afoul of Trump's vindictive nature should he win." From a fiduciary standpoint, I agree with that assessment. From the standpoint of a citizen, I find the implication alarming. I do believe that this is the reasoning behind the decision, but it is certainly speculation on my part.

This is why we need to repeal and replace the First Amendment with an amendment that guarantees freedom of expression within the bounds of civilized discourse (e.g., open Nazism=crime) and severely punishes government officials who use their power to stifle such expression. The First Amendment, as written, protects speech that oughtn't be protected, and fails to protect speech that ought to be protected, hence the cu…

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