There are a lot of tears being shed in DC today after yesterday's shock announcement that the Washington Post, house organ of the democrat party, was sold for a relative pittance to Jeff Bezos of Amazon.
I was upset myself because I was hoping to see the day it filed for bankruptcy protection, hopefully after wiping out the Graham family's last assets. Alas, it is not to be, but at least I get the satisfaction of seeing a piece of the left's crown jewels auctioned off to some internet mogul. At least now he'll be on the A list for Washington dinner parties. That's worth something, so you can't say he just wasted his $250 mill.
Bezos was the perfect buyer because he has always had trouble understanding a profit and loss statement. No one who understands the difference between red and black ink would have bought this fast sinking ship. The question for him will be the same question asked of Sam Zell after he foolishly bought the LA Times. How long are you prepared to write checks to subsidize this new hobby?
The Post has lost readers by the trainload over the past few years. The only thing that kept the company afloat was some slocky test preparation business they bought and some television stations.
The Post has always been kind of a model for extreme media bias, but in the past few years, they have abandoned all pretence of running an honest news operation. Their mission is liberal advocacy. They have alienated a good portion of their potential subscriber base by staking out extreme positions on hot button issues like gay marriage, then pushing it relentlessly through "news" coverage. Even longtime readers have been complaining on the oped letters page that it is difficult to distinguish news articles from editorials.
Of course, their high water mark was hounding Richard Nixon out of office over a series of small-time scandals that wouldn't have made Bill Clinton's top ten list. Today, with another president hipdeep in horrifying scandals, they have devoted a ton of ink and front page space to... trying to destroy the conservative governor of Virginia over some nickle and dime dispute about a few thousand dollars in disputed gifts.
In sum, they are a disgrace to the news business and have a long history of hypocrisy and intellectual dishonesty. If Al Jazeera had bought it, things could hardly have gotten any worse.
I was upset myself because I was hoping to see the day it filed for bankruptcy protection, hopefully after wiping out the Graham family's last assets. Alas, it is not to be, but at least I get the satisfaction of seeing a piece of the left's crown jewels auctioned off to some internet mogul. At least now he'll be on the A list for Washington dinner parties. That's worth something, so you can't say he just wasted his $250 mill.
Bezos was the perfect buyer because he has always had trouble understanding a profit and loss statement. No one who understands the difference between red and black ink would have bought this fast sinking ship. The question for him will be the same question asked of Sam Zell after he foolishly bought the LA Times. How long are you prepared to write checks to subsidize this new hobby?
The Post has lost readers by the trainload over the past few years. The only thing that kept the company afloat was some slocky test preparation business they bought and some television stations.
The Post has always been kind of a model for extreme media bias, but in the past few years, they have abandoned all pretence of running an honest news operation. Their mission is liberal advocacy. They have alienated a good portion of their potential subscriber base by staking out extreme positions on hot button issues like gay marriage, then pushing it relentlessly through "news" coverage. Even longtime readers have been complaining on the oped letters page that it is difficult to distinguish news articles from editorials.
Of course, their high water mark was hounding Richard Nixon out of office over a series of small-time scandals that wouldn't have made Bill Clinton's top ten list. Today, with another president hipdeep in horrifying scandals, they have devoted a ton of ink and front page space to... trying to destroy the conservative governor of Virginia over some nickle and dime dispute about a few thousand dollars in disputed gifts.
In sum, they are a disgrace to the news business and have a long history of hypocrisy and intellectual dishonesty. If Al Jazeera had bought it, things could hardly have gotten any worse.
