"A quarter of an increasingly dark century later, the Amazon founder is now a symbol of something else: how the ultra-rich can kill the news. Job cuts in an industry that has struggled financially since the internet came into existence and killed its business model is hardly new, but last week's brutal cull of hundreds of journalists at the Bezos-owned Washington Post marks a new low."
"The redundancies that were announced to staff on a video call, the axing of half its foreign bureau (including the war reporter in Ukraine) not since P&O Ferries have layoffs been handled so badly. Former Post stalwart Paul Farhi described a decision that affected nearly half of the 790-strong workforce as the biggest one-day wipeout of journalists in a generation."
"Why it happened is still baffling, at least for anyone not inside the head of one of the world's richest men. Marty Baron, the Post's former editor, highlighted the owner's sickening efforts to curry favour with Donald Trump in a case study in near-instant, self-inflicted brand destruction. Slate magazine, owned by the Graham family (previous owners of the Post), accused Bezos of accelerating the [Post's] decline on purpose because of external economic interests such as Amazon and Blue Origin, his space business."
Jeff Bezos was Time magazine's Person of the Year in 1999 and later became a symbol of how the ultra-rich can kill the news. The Washington Post, owned by Bezos, announced a brutal round of layoffs that cut nearly half of its 790-strong workforce and axed half its foreign bureau, including the Ukraine war reporter. The redundancies were announced on a video call, prompting criticism for the handling. Critics say the cuts mark a new low and may reflect owner-driven motives tied to power, influence, and external economic interests such as Amazon and Blue Origin. The newspaper endures persistent financial losses despite wealthy ownership.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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