I don't read the opinion section because you can get opinions anywhere and there are better blogs on Substack. The news reporting in the Washington Post seems as good as ever, as far as I can tell.
cyanydeez · 48m ago
The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
To your context, it simply means you havent seen bias in the facts, but dont evaluate the completeness thereof.
Purchasing The Washington Post is a Day-Two move. Destined to lose.
Animats · 1h ago
The second Opinion unit, for outside submissions, is the Amazon reseller concept applied to news. It's why you can't buy anything important on Amazon any more.
There are very few American newspapers left that have actual reporters in the field. The New York Times and the Washington Post are almost the only ones left.
The result is that most stories begin from some press release. Look at the Washington Post right now.
- "Trump, European Union reach trade deal with 15% tariffs" - from a press release.
- "Israel to let more aid trucks into Gaza, under pressure over hunger crisis
Israel said..." - press release
- "Denied federal flood relief, a Maryland town is left on its own" - actual reporter coverage of regional news.
- "Trump’s imaginary numbers, from $1.99 gas to 1,500 percent price cuts" - desk work, rehash of existing info.
For most other newspapers, it's even worse. Few if any boots on the ground.
"News is what someone doesn't want published. All else is publicity"
skybrian · 1h ago
One difference between actual journalists and people who just post their opinions on the Internet is that journalists will make phone calls. Even when they don’t talk to people in person, that’s still valuable.
PaulHoule · 51m ago
Bari Weiss and Paul Krugman wouldn't agree on almost anything but they agree it's a better life to be writing for Substack than for the NYT.
I enjoy reading Krugman so much now because he seems to be having so much fun now that he doesn't have the weight of the New York Times editors on him.
sweeter · 1h ago
All of these institutions are cooked.
scoreandmore · 1h ago
Yes.
jeroenvlek · 1h ago
Exactly.
PaulHoule · 3h ago
The "why" is pretty obvious. Bezos is intimidated by Trump. Under Trump 1 he changed the paper's masthead to "Democracy Dies in Darkness", like out of Batman.
If you look at Russia, you see being an oligarch is particularly dangerous in an authoritarian society. You fall out of a window. You can't get permits for anything, your contracts get canceled. Some average rando can be part of the #resistance and not face consequences because nobody cares but if you are that visible you're vulnerable.
dimal · 1h ago
Weird that it doesn’t mention Trump. He and Bezos were at odds until Bezos gave him $1M for the inauguration and decided to neuter the Post’s opinion section. Then all threats of antitrust against Amazon magically went away. Bezos probably had to trash the Post to save Amazon. The loss is a drop in the bucket to him.
dotcoma · 40m ago
Agree. But even completely losing Amazon — which would have never happened anyway — would have been a drop in the bucket at this point.
Funny how you grow to become the richest or second-richest man on the world, only to kiss ass to a bully.
diddid · 11m ago
Rich people have been paying off politicians forever, Trump isn’t the first, and he won’t be the last. Back the winner until the winner is the loser, then back the new winner, repeat. AKA the king is dead long live the king!
dotcoma · 9m ago
True, but what is surprising to me is that not even Bezos’ kind of wealth will get him off the hook.
VivaTechnics · 3h ago
By accident
bediger4000 · 3h ago
Agreed. He seems to think that people want to pay to be lectured about "personal freedom and liberty", and should take election advice from him, an oligarch.
vFunct · 3h ago
Yep. He has no idea what he's doing in media, or much else really (outside of AWS)
To your context, it simply means you havent seen bias in the facts, but dont evaluate the completeness thereof.
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-washington-post-is-dying-je...
There are very few American newspapers left that have actual reporters in the field. The New York Times and the Washington Post are almost the only ones left. The result is that most stories begin from some press release. Look at the Washington Post right now.
- "Trump, European Union reach trade deal with 15% tariffs" - from a press release.
- "Israel to let more aid trucks into Gaza, under pressure over hunger crisis Israel said..." - press release
- "Denied federal flood relief, a Maryland town is left on its own" - actual reporter coverage of regional news.
- "Trump’s imaginary numbers, from $1.99 gas to 1,500 percent price cuts" - desk work, rehash of existing info.
For most other newspapers, it's even worse. Few if any boots on the ground.
"News is what someone doesn't want published. All else is publicity"
I enjoy reading Krugman so much now because he seems to be having so much fun now that he doesn't have the weight of the New York Times editors on him.
If you look at Russia, you see being an oligarch is particularly dangerous in an authoritarian society. You fall out of a window. You can't get permits for anything, your contracts get canceled. Some average rando can be part of the #resistance and not face consequences because nobody cares but if you are that visible you're vulnerable.
Funny how you grow to become the richest or second-richest man on the world, only to kiss ass to a bully.