Bezos and The Washington
Post: You May Not Want to Step In It
by Gary
When Jeffrey Bezos, founder and chairman of Amazon.com, laid
down $250 million to purchase The
Washington Post, one of the most important journalistic enterprises in the
world, people, understandably, had questions.
What did this Internet retailer know about the newspaper business?
The primary impact of Amazon on the world of publishing has
been about the same as it has been on many other businesses: a massive beat-down. Those local stores that managed to survive
suburbanization, mall-ization, and WalMart-ization were now confronted by an
even greater competitor: a company that enjoys a global clientele, pays a
pittance in rent and taxes, and does sufficient volume to be able to undersell anybody
and everybody. It is a measure of this
catastrophe, but of little consolation to the “mom and pop” stores on Main
Street, that they are hardly the only victims.
They’ve are now joined in the life raft by many of the big box
stores. Circuit City? Borders?
Swept away. While we were busy
lamenting the loss of the beloved local shops where one might not only purchase
books, clothing, and music, but might actually have the opportunity to engage a
human being in conversation – perhaps even ask a question! – Hurricane Amazon
changed the entire economic geography of America.
While the book publishing industry had, like every other
industry in the world, seen a steady stream of mergers and consolidations, the
Amazon onslaught made such consolidation less a matter of competitive advantage
of more a question of survival. If
you’re going up against Amazon, size is not (to paraphrase the thickheaded but
practical Vince Lombardi) everything, it’s the only thing. Quality?
Personal service? Amazon has
relegated these concepts to the dustbin of history.
As far rich people’s toys are concerned, a newspaper has
always had a certain appeal. Any piece
of owned property can bestow pride and profit, but a newspaper is a public
megaphone with few rivals for power and prestige. William Randolph Hearst was hardly the only
mogul to understand this (James Gordon Bennett and Joseph Pulitzer preceded him),
but he was the first to seize the full power of the press to feed his own ego
and ambition. Not satisfied to merely
influence public opinion, Hearst realized that this tail could wag the dog of national
policy. He didn’t just create reading
material, he made wars.
I’m not suggesting that Bezos is in the same class as Hearst
or his contemporary step-children in media manipulation, Rupert Murdoch and
Silvio Berlusconi, but exactly what class (other than upper-upper 1%) is he in?
This guy knows how to run an efficient
warehouse without wasting money on air conditioning in summer of heat in
winter. He knows how to keep a strict
ceiling on wages (other than his own, of course). He knows how to avoid taxes. What interest might this titan of
click-commerce have in producing news?
In view of these understandable questions, Bezos followed
the news of his purchase with a pilgrimage to the newsroom to face his new
employees and assuage their concerns. He
told the assembled parties that he was really, really committed to quality
journalism. Being in the presence of
people who make their living with words, one would think Bezos would choose his
carefully. What he said, among other
things, was, “Getting a subscription to the Washington Post should be as easy
as buying diapers on Amazon.”
I, for one, am not reassured.
First of all, selling newspapers is not like selling
diapers, or any other product for that matter.
Journalism is the only professional practice that is afforded protection
by the U.S. Constitution, and rightfully so.
Without a functioning system of news-gathering and dissemination, along
with a repository for previously published stories, democracy is simply not
viable. This is not the place for a
discussion about the benefits of print in comparison to broadcast or Internet
news, but there are a couple of quick things to be said. First, the title of Danny Schechter’s book The More You Watch the Less You Know is
not ironic…it is the simple truth about television news. Second, although the Internet contains an
amazing amount of information and opinion, unless you are on the reliable
website of an established, credible news organization, it is a risky
proposition. News on the Web is a
cornucopia without a context and, as such, is as tool that does as much harm as
good.
Second, the diaper analogy is a bit disturbing. In a situation in which Bezos was trying to
demonstrate his respect for the journalistic profession, to compare a newspaper
subscription to plastic repository for shit can only be seen as a Freudian
slip. I would wager that Bezos actually
has less respect for writers and editors than the average parent has for poop.
I suppose we should suspend judgment until Bezos begins to
play with his new toy. It’s not as if
the Post wasn’t in decline,
editorially and financially. But the Post is a venerable newspaper and its role
in the nation’s capitol, and therefore on national politics, cannot be
overstated. I cannot help but think that
Bezos’ takeover is just the first of many of stories in which the news is
mostly bad.
-- Gary Kenton
