There was a time when a newspaper, especially one that was a local monopoly, might have seen it as a service to bring to the reader’s doorstep every morning a broad-based opinion section that sought to cover all views.
That’s exactly what a journalistic organisation is meant to do Jeff, especially now when the world is increasingly being filled with mouthpieces that regurgitate what their owners want them to.
An organisation that puts out only one opinion, or is only allowed to put out one opinion, is nothing more than a mouthpiece.
Its a shame to see the Post becoming just another mouthpiece.
You misspelled propaganda.
Among many reasons, I’ll never subscribe to WP again. I used to.
I used to as well. And I’m Canadian.
Never again as long as that asshole owns the paper.
Bezos’s exercise of greater control over the Post‘s journalism in recent months has raised eyebrows.
Raised eyebrows? Is mild-washing a word? It should be.
Historically, journalism was about sifting through the different things that multiple people say are true, in order to figure out what actually is true.
But now it can just be about what one person says is true, and the internet can figure out what’s actually true!
The gall of these billionaires to just buy a news organization and then blatantly state “we’re not going to do news anymore” is just incredible.
Even Rupert Murdock had the courtesy to come up with the Fox News “Fair and Balanced” slogan (even though it was completely full of shit).
Bezos is just like “yeah we’re going full on propaganda, go fuck yourself.”
On the other end, you’ve got billionaire Jeff Lawson rescuing The Onion from private equity hell. I count their revived print subscription as one of the best things I’ve spent money on recently, considering it used to be free.
TBH the honesty is refreshing compared to the historical bullshit.
what’s “stunning” about the statement?
All I saw was:
- Opinion Editor did not want to continue to be a meat puppet for this propaganda outlet
- Bezos accepted resignation
- Bezos to look for new meat puppet
I assumed the stunning part was this:
We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets. We’ll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.
It’s just pretty blatant.
free markets
This one is especially hilarious in the Trump Tariffs era.
Bezos accepted resignation
Bezos constructed resignation, which is legally termination, not resignation at all.
Interestingly, the Post and the NYT both lean heavily on their Opinion sections to pretend they’re not licking boots. Now the Post won’t have that option.
Wow, you mean he was an enormous sack of shit the whole time??
Trash capitalist propaganda is becoming even worse? I’m shocked. Shocked!!! \s
It’s a good thing I stopped bothering with the Washington Post even before Bezos bought it. In fact pretty much every news organization that is owned by a singular entity is completely worthless nowadays.
Maybe it’s time for people to start submitting Opinion pieces detailing how we can use the free market to make companies regret discontinuing their DEI programs or Pride merchandise, or telling how bodily autonomy and control over one’s reproductive equipment is a central pillar of personal liberty.
You’re right, it’s time. Apes together strong.
Your mistake is assuming that these people actually care about “free” “markets”, “personal liberty”, etc.
“Democracy dies in Darkness”
-Washington Post
“Nah, I knifed that bitch in the back in broad daylight.”
-Jeff Bezos
Y’all, stop buying shit from Amazon, completely. That’s where you start.
Bezos has money because we continue to give it to him. So, the first order of business is to simply stop spending money with him.
As in, forever.
Find an alternative vendor, or even schlep on down to a physical store if you need to.
I agree, but also they don’t make their money from sales. They make money from AWS servers/ services. I would bet that they lose money or maybe slightly break even on every sale of a physical item.
Yeah, the warehouses are quite badly run.
Edit; I’ve had a beer. In my experience of the one I’ve worked in.
Ugh, that really sucks. I didn’t realize AWS was their bread and butter now.
Even so.
This has actually always been the case. Iirc, AWS was the only profitable piece of Amazon for years. The retail and consumer services arms will never catch up.
Are any lemmy instances hosted on AWS?
Would love to see a really comprehensive list of sites that aren’t garbage AI slop scam alleyways that would help cover the goods and services that Amazon acts as a one-stop convenience for. I don’t want to support Amazon, but I also don’t want to get scammed by handing out my credit card info to any old shopping site.
Feel free to add more suggestions in your own replies.
I’ll start :
Electronics : B&H Photo - owned by religious folks so hours of operation are a little odd sometimes, but overall good customer service, fair prices, reliable shipping
Grocieries : Central Market - HEB’s high-tier store chain for high-quality groceries, instead of Whole Foods
Kitchen supplies : Webstaurant - Wholesale store for things like home kitchen goods and supplies, as well as things like flatware and dishes
B&H photo isn’t just “owned by religious folks”. They staff everything above the warehouse exclusively with Hasidic Orthodox Jewish men.
Afaik they aren’t tied to supporting Zionism. They had some problems a decade ago with safety standards and union busting.
And their website won’t let you order anything on the Sabbath, which drives me insane. I’m not expecting anyone to be working on the weekend, but computers don’t need to take breaks!!
Afaik they aren’t tied to supporting Zionism. They had some problems a decade ago with safety standards and union busting.
Didn’t know that… :( - Open to hear other alternatives, but when NewEgg became much worse notably a few years back, and NCIX went under, B&H has been an online staple for my computer parts, camera, and general electronics needs… save for cables from Infinite Cables.
I do go to Micro Center in person due to being lucky enough to have one within a sensible distance, but that’s still quite a drive for me, and I know not everyone else has one nearby.
This is only for software, and focused around tracking cookies (or lack thereof), but maybe it can expand to consumer goods: CookieSlayers
I want a non profit/open source store aggregator where we can search for what we want like Amazon but direct is to the site with the item we are looking for.
Like pcpartpicker, but for everything!
For software, I started his directory: CookieSlayers
Most of the software there is open source, but not all of it. Nevertheless, it’s about companies/services/products that operate a bit more ethically.
Thanks
Amazon is a server hosting company that happens to sell cheap junk.
All of lemmy shopping Prime is a drop in the oceans of the millions per month my company pays aws
Last time I looked at Amazon’s books, their retail arm was barely profitable. Most of their actual profits came from AWS.
Azure (MS) or GCP (Google) are the alternatives.
OIC, too.
Or if you want to avoid Big Tech altogether, there’s DigitalOcean, Akamai, Linode, IBM, Cloudflare, and a handful of other point providers.
if you want to avoid Big Tech altogether, there’s … IBM
If I had been drinking anything when I read that it would have ended up all over my screen.
IBM used to be big. They still are, but they used to be too.
You have to be careful as some providers and PaaS use AWS under the hood.
For example Heroku is essentially a nice skin over AWS.
“V0te with ur d0ll4rzzz!!!”
Do you actually think the next best option is actually good? There is no escape from capitalism.
“Democracy dies in darkness”
Honestly, the whole paper should just be entirely blacked out.
The fascism is happening.
Took about a month
Buy your axe grinding wheels now before it’s hard to keep them in stock.
We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets. We’ll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.
Just dragging this newspaper into the right wing muck at full speed now
I’m confident that free markets and personal liberties are right for America. I also believe these viewpoints are underserved in the current market of ideas and news opinion. I’m excited for us together to fill that void.
“Market of ideas” but you’re only allowed to say what I like
I offered David Shipley, whom I greatly admire, the opportunity to lead this new chapter. I suggested to him that if the answer wasn’t “hell yes,” then it had to be “no.” After careful consideration, David decided to step away.
That is termination, not resignation.
Fucking scumbag.
Freedom is ethical — it minimizes coercion — and practical — it drives creativity, invention, and prosperity.
this is a very interesting sentence to find in a post that outlines the ways in which the opinion page will be losing some of its editorial freedom.
War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.
In the grimdark future of the 2nd millennium, there is only way.
It’s also gotta be one of the worst sentences I’ve ever read, yikes. Maybe get an editor to look it over.
They did. They just looked at it and said “hell yes” while sweating profusely.
Hey, I like to think that sometimes I might feel the need to write remarkably similar sentences to the kinds that you, u/bearboiblake might have referenced in this particular editorial expression of human nature and sentiment in America, today.
-You know, badly,
Yeah two em dashes in a single sentence is too many, and that one’s got three
