The 2d tale “Collision of Power” relates is of the come upon of new wealth (Bezos) with outdated (Bezos purchased The Post from the Graham circle of relatives, who had owned it since 1933). Under the management of Katharine Graham, after which her son Donald, The Post got here to world prominence for its protection of the Pentagon Papers and Watergate, however by 2012, the writer, Katharine Weymouth (Katharine Graham’s granddaughter and Donald’s niece), concluded that the circle of relatives didn’t have the cash, concepts or wherewithal to avoid wasting the paper from the spiral of decline that has decimated the news industry.
Bezos dropped at The Post an inherent ability for shopper advertising, deep wisdom of virtual services and products, and an admirable recognize for the paper’s editorial independence. Soon after the acquisition, the web site started to load quicker (particularly on smartphones, the place maximum readers now get their news). One new virtual software allowed for simultaneous checking out of other headlines to look which attracted probably the most readers. Another, nicknamed the “MartyBot,” mechanically reminded journalists of upcoming time limits.
How news organizations produce articles, rate for subscriptions and marketplace themselves would possibly appear mundane, however such main points — Bezos had perspectives at the colour of the web site’s “subscribe” button — mattered tremendously for The Post’s virtual turnaround. (The turnaround isn’t entire: Digital subscriptions fell after Trump left place of job. The Post misplaced cash ultimate 12 months and in January laid off 20 workers. Ryan resigned as writer in June.) There have been no illusions in regards to the relative energy of Silicon Valley and Washington, because the destiny of storied media manufacturers got here to be on the mercy of Google, Facebook, Twitter (now X) and Apple. “We were supplicants in a world where they were sovereign,” Baron writes.
To Baron’s credit, The Post aggressively coated Amazon’s exertions practices, its dominant marketplace place and its panoptic accumulating of buyer knowledge. Owning The Post value Bezos extra than simply cash (although he has made again his $250 million, after which some). In 2018, his telephone was once hacked, in all probability, some mavens speculated, by the Saudi executive, in accordance with the paper’s vital protection of the dominion, together with columns by Jamal Khashoggi, who was once later assassinated on the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
In 2019, The National Enquirer printed intimate textual content messages that Bezos had despatched to a lover, Lauren Sanchez, and which the tabloid had bought from her brother as section of what Bezos known as a blackmail attempt. (His marriage to MacKenzie Scott ended, and Bezos and Sanchez are now engaged.) Baron tells the tale of Bezos’ benevolent stewardship, however doesn’t cope with whether or not it’s a long-term drawback for billionaires to possess newsrooms. Rupert Murdoch, who managed Fox News and The Wall Street Journal till September, when he introduced he was once stepping down, will get just a cursory point out.