The way that American journalism tries, so, so, hard, to insist that the people who actually own a rag should have no influence over a rag:
It was surprising, then, that the Washington Post did not endorse Trump in its pre-election editorial. Instead the writers crafted an endorsement of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris which Bezos killed, in his first act of blatant editorial interference since he bought the title in 2013.
“Blatant” etc etc. It’s his fucking newspaper.
This is not just a tendency, it’s even more than just an assumption. They really do believe – as a matter of deep, deep, faith – that the owner’s job is just to keep coughing up for the losses. Journos just get to keep spewing their own prejudices at the masses.
Which is why print media is going the way of the quagga and the thylacine…
One may note the continual push for X and other social media to provide a subsidy to the Aussie press. Last I heard it amounted to about $70 million.
The newspaper article expressed indignation that social media argued that if they didn’t allow news on their site, they shouldn’t have to pay for it.
*if* the NYP is to be believe it wasn’t Bezos
“ Washington Post CEO Williams Lewis said he pulled the plug on the paper’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris – amid fierce backlash that owner Jeff Bezos was responsible for the controversial decision.
Lewis rejected claims the Amazon billionaire killed the already planned endorsement for the Democratic nominee – breaking 36 years of tradition at the paper – just 11 days before the 2024 election, stressing that he himself is against presidential endorsements.”
https://nypost.com/2024/10/26/us-news/washington-post-ceo-william-lewis-takes-the-blame-for-killing-presidential-endorsement-for-kamala-harris/
Yes… Nice frothing and reeee!-ing…
Now.. independent Newspaper, independent Journalists able to write what they see as “correct”..
Imagine a journo writing for one of those vaunted Independents, pre-election, having a hard look at the facts, and wrote a piece to the tune of: “Well.. I don’t like Trump, but if you look what the Democrats are actually presenting right now, I can’t see them winning the election.”
And place bets on how far that “Independence” goes when you go against editorial GroupThink….
It only ever works one way with these types, doesn’t it?
It was surprising, then, that the Washington Post did not endorse Trump in its pre-election editorial.
No, what was surprising was that the entire American MSM was furiously gaslighting the American public into thinking it was too close to call, and there was a groundswell of women and minorities flocking to vote Harris, when in reality Trump won easily with huge swings to MAGA across nearly every voting demographic.
Spoiler alert: the MSM lied through their teeth to astroturf support for Coconut Joy.
But the billionaires had better sources of information than the newspapers they own, and so declined to endorse Coconut Joy, who was a terrible candidate, even while their employees kept pretending Willie Brown’s brown willy polisher was set for victory.
So in answer to the question:
Can billionaire media moguls be trusted in Trump’s America?
Emily Bell
Emily Bell is director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and a Guardian columnist
Who do you trust more?
Elon Musk, or yet another random journoliar from clown college ?
The American press is as weird as British broadcasting.
I wonder if the media miscalibrated , say your going to absolutely win or lose might mean people don’t bother to go and vote as they feel it’s a waste of time, so they try treading a line of its close and we will win as long as you vote.
In this case they couldn’t restrain themselves or admit Trump would win so overplayed their hand on the “we have this” side
Totally deluded reporting that proves the opposite of what they state! From https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd0elzk24dno:
“BBC News is the most trusted news media in the world,” the BBC spokesperson added.