Romenesko: Bezos buys Washington Post for $250 million

He could start by getting a Wash Post Kindle Ap, since there currently is not one.

 

Laughing my rear end off that anyone thinks a shift to the right politically would throw the Washington Post off the straight and narrow. Give me a break. It's a left-wing rag.

 

Whatever the Post's politics might be, anyone who thinks it's a "rag" is moron.

 

Funny how you don't show any concern for that when a guy who's donated tons to liberal causes buys a paper.

 

Yeah - "journos" like this writer would be so much better.

http://dailycaller.com/2013/08/07/5-washington-post-employees-bezos-should-fire-immediately/

 

I'm sure the new owner of the Washington Post read that and took notes.

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Anyone think this bodes well or journalism or journalists? As YF posted, Bezos isn't too concerned about the working conditions of the rank-and-file.

 

It's a hard call. I still think most newspaper operations make much more from their actual print operation than their internet presence. Bezos comes from a big internet operation. Does he move WaPo away from print?

 

My God, the stupidity of the Daily Caller is baffling. I would rather read Breibart, and that's saying some shit.

 

Yes, I do. Again, if we're looking just at the delivery system, I think we're looking in the wrong place. Bezos has money to burn. A friend the other night, when we were talking about this, brought up the famous line from "Citizen Kane."

"We're losing $1 million a year."

"Well, then. At that rate, we'll run out of money in ... 60 years!"

I think the Post has to steal the national political conversation back from Politico and the Huffington Post and others. But primarily Politico. I think that's what Bezos cares about. I think the Post is a toy. I think it's a Petri dish for him. I don't think he's Sam Zell, the best recent comparison, who saw it as a business opportunity and had to try to creatively manage a lot of debt along with his purchase. Bezos wants to creatively manage content. Creatively manage journalism.

He might fail spectacularly. But I think he wants to take some chances and see what works, leveraging a name brand while it still has some cachet and talent left. This isn't someone buying Newsweek for $1.

 

James B. Stewart, in the Times:

 

Just got back from an extended vacation.

CBS Sports layoffs. Washington Post sold. Gannett layoffs. Patch layoffs.

Online. Print. It doesn't matter. There's no job security anywhere.