Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Bezos Fires over 300 Reporters at Washington Post
Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post some years ago, and his stewardship of the operation has collapsed into shame and cowardice in the last 15 or so months. It started when he spiked an Op-Ed endorsing Kamala Harris. Mr. Bezos feared retaliation from Mr. Trump in the event Ms. Harris came up short, as she did. Since then, the Post has lost subscribers and money. He is so terrified of losing Amazon that he will destroy the paper if it helps. Yesterday, he fired more than 300 reporters including a correspondent in the warzone of Ukraine. He is a coward, and he has the power to resist.
Ruth Marcus, who resigned from the Post some months ago, wrote a piece appearing in the New Yorker that said
Martin Baron, who oversaw coverage at the paper that garnered eleven Pulitzer Prizes during his eight years as executive editor, said in a statement, "This ranks among the darkest days in the history of one of the world's greatest news organizations. The Washington Post's ambitions will be sharply diminished, its talented and brave staff will be further depleted, and the public will be denied the ground-level, fact-based reporting in our communities and around the world that is needed more than ever."
The news industry is in "a period of head-spinning change," Baron told me. But the Post's problems "were made infinitely worse by ill-conceived decisions that came from the very top." He pointed to Bezos's decision to kill the Harris endorsement -- a "gutless order" that cost the paper more than two hundred fifty thousand subscribers. "Loyal readers, livid as they saw owner Jeff Bezos betraying the values he was supposed to uphold, fled The Post. In truth, they were driven away, by the hundreds of thousands," Baron said. "Bezos's sickening efforts to curry favor with President Trump have left an especially ugly stain of their own. This is a case study in near-instant, self-inflicted brand destruction."
Mr. Bezos is a multi-bilionaire. He owns and operates Amazon, which has about 38% of US online sales, roughly $500 billion worth last year. He has incredible power to resist. While his is not the biggest company company in the economy, it is the most vital. If Amazon decided not to sell or deliver any products for a week, the economy would come to a stand-still. Parts for repairs would not be available. Prescriptions would go unfilled. Groceries would not arrive. And GDP and tax receipts would drop. The power to wreck an economy in a few days is sufficient to tell a president to go kick rocks.
Instead, Mr. Bezos has rolled over and let his reputation go to hell, and for Mr. Trump, it will never be enough. The mobster always wants more. The Harris Op-Ed episode cost the paper 250,000 subscribers (of which the current writer was one). Mr. Bezos is continuing down the same path, having learned nothing. But he is surrounded by people who cannot say no. The Hill reported
Matt Murray, the executive editor of the Washington Post, is defending a decision by the outlet's billionaire owner Jeff Bezos to make sweeping cuts to its newsroom, a move that has reduced its staff by hundreds.
"He wants the Post to be a bigger, relevant, thriving institution," Murray said of Bezos during an interview with CNN published on Thursday. "I can say from my perspective, Jeff is nothing but supportive of getting the house in order and being positioned for growth."
Mr. Murray has a paycheck that requires him to say that. That he will not quit simply shows he is a man without honor. Indeed, that is the curse of the era; it is the Age without Honor, and the leaders are cowards.
The decline under the Trump administration continues to accelerate.
© Copyright 2026 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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