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On Wednesday, the Washington Post it would be shutting down its free tabloid newspaper, Express. The move, according to the post reporter who broke the news, was caused by Express' "Twenty people will be losing their jobs."
After 16 years of purveying off-kilter, "news you can use" -type material, the staff of the Express have chosen to go out on a cheeky note:
The final cover of the Express pic.twitter.com/bpCvPq1w6B
– David Jordan (@davpjor) September 12, 2019
"Add the Express to the list of print publications done in by mobile technology" is a hell of a half-truth. Yes, Facebook's and Google's tight-fisted control over most digital ad dollars surely did not help stuffed with ads. But the Washington Post does not answer to the free market. If it did, it would be dead, or at least somewhere approaching death. Instead, the Post ultimately, answers to Jeff Bezos, who bought the newspaper in 2013 for $ 250 million, or what was then about 1 percent of his net worth. In the past six years, Bezos' personal wealth has grown to about $ 25 billion to $ 113 billion.
This is how the staff of the Express, who are not covered by the Washington Post Guild News contract, were informed that they would be losing their jobs:
They were called to a meeting with management, where they were informed their jobs Washington Post Express would cease publication Thursday. An announcement from the company about the layoffs Express employees left the meeting or could notify their loved ones.
ALTHOUGH Washington Post The irresolvable contradiction of the paper's "business plan" presents itself in its announcements like the one above. Tea Post will always remain subordinate to the imperatives and preferences of its owner, even if the civic interest of its operations ("Democracy Dies in Darkness," much?
In fact, the only reason to celebrate the acquisition of an ailing newspaper by the most powerful private individual on the planet was that it would have ostensibly protected its staff from exactly what happened. And yet Bezos cash has funded a substantial reinvestment of an unknown amount in the paper, it has come at a cost: Post staffers have had their pensions last year before the company.
That Bezos would be stingy should not be such a surprise. It took a few questions from New York Times in 2017 before Bezos posted on Twitter to make a "request for ideas" for his philanthropic giving. He has made the world's billionaire "Giving Pledge" (a commitment from the world's wealthiest to give up their ill-gotten gains back to charitable causes), though his ex-wife Mackenzie is a notable signatory. Since then, Bezos has made a small number of charitable giving announcements, including a $ 2 billion "fund" for programs to benefit poor and homeless people.
All in all, it seems, Bezos is happy to throw his money at mostly frivolous billionaire bullshit. Earlier this summer, reported the Wall Street Journal, he purchased an $ 80 million Fifth Avenue condo in Manhattan, adding to his home in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Texas and Washington state. Perhaps he could use them to host some of the 20 people he just put out of work. And while this one seems to be a simple, if idealistic, truth: Bezos has more money than anyone else on the planet, and if he really wanted to do a mitzvah it could be more than a million years ago for some journalists to have jobs.
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