“Democracy dies with billionaires”
Somewhere, Katharine Graham is weeping; also, a Jesuit priest laments a "coarsening of morality"
Layoffs at newspapers are, shall we say, old news. I lost count of how many layoffs I had to witness at the Tribune before I finally fled the place, only to have the love of news work beaten out of me permanently at a wire service.
The news business has been suffering for decades. And like a lot of people, I thought Jeff Bezos swooping in to buy the Washington Post in 2013 like some nebbishy knight in billion-dollar shining armor was a great idea. And for a few years, it seemed like it: He left the news-editorial side alone and even came up with the admittedly cheesy “Democracy dies in darkness” slogan for the flag. He didn’t seem publicly weaselly or self-serving about it.
That, of course, was before the shelving of the Kamala Harris endorsement in 2024. That was before the editorial page shift to an eye toward supporting “personal liberties and free markets.”1 And it was certainly before this week’s “bloodbath” that wiped out hundreds of the paper’s newsroom jobs, only the most recent of a series of layoffs and buyouts since at least 2023.
Yeah, I’m outraged that such a storied organization—the newspaper of the late Katharine Graham and “All the President’s Men”—has been diminished so badly when the times demand deeper, broader, and aggressive news coverage. As a former newsperson and someone who has experienced the pain of being laid off, I’m also sad for those reporters and editors who were cut loose.
Maybe more than anything, I’m disgusted by another billionaire casting aside what turned out to be another whim—with clearly little regard for the workers affected—while kowtowing to an authoritarian White House.2
As Jonathan V. Last wrote in the Bulwark:
Jeff Bezos is worth something like $250 billion. This past weekend he chose to lose about $60 million on a worshipful film about Melania Trump. In 2019 he spent $5 million on a 30-second ad for the Washington Post during the Super Bowl. He has spent $40 million building a clock inside a mountain that will supposedly keep time for 10,000 years.
A man like Jeff Bezos does not do anything because he has to. It has been decades since he was constrained by anything other than his own desires. What happened to the Washington Post over the last three years happened for one reason and one reason only: Because Jeff Bezos wanted it to be so.
Because he gets off on civic vandalism.
Marty Baron, the Pulitzer-winning former editor of the Post, spoke to several news orgs (including “PBS News Hour,” above) about the decimation of his former newsroom. He told Vanity Fair:
I do think he’s trying to survive Donald Trump, but I don’t think that’s the strategy with regard to The Washington Post. He’s certainly trying to navigate the Trump era and stay out of Trump’s crosshairs. He’s certainly trying to make sure that Amazon is not damaged by his ownership of The Washington Post. He’s certainly trying to make sure that Blue Origin is not damaged by his ownership of The Washington Post. Just the other day, he appeared with Pete Hegseth at Blue Origin, yucking it up, even though Pete Hegseth was the very person who asked for a raid on the home of one of the Post’s reporters where they seized all of her electronic devices. Even though Pete Hegseth was the one who ordered the expulsion of real reporters [who did not agree to his restrictions] from the Pentagon, including the Post’s own reporters.
I think he’s just decided that with regard to the strategy, that it just can’t be as big as it is, as simple as that. We’re just going to have to downsize. I hear through the grapevine that somehow they’re going to put some big emphasis on AI, although I think they may be deluding themselves as to what AI can actually do. I don’t know how AI cultivates sources. I don’t know how AI reports on what’s happening around the world. I don’t know how AI comes up with creative story ideas that will capture the interest of readers. I mean, certainly AI is a powerful tool and should be deployed, but it can’t replace reporters, and it can’t replace good editors either. [Editor’s note: In his memo, (Post editor Matt) Murray said the Post is “still in the early days of AI-generated content, which is drastically reshaping user experiences and expectations.”]
Meanwhile, the Post’s News Guild chapter—which held a rally outside the newspaper’s headquarters, where a sign declared “Democracy Dies With Billionaires”—has set up a GoFundMe for laid-off employees.
(Also of note: The AP also notes in its article on the Post cuts that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution announced this week that it was eliminating 50 positions, half of those in the newsroom.)
Related links
Death of a Sports Section (The Ringer). This was the same sports department that brought us John Feinstein, Tony Kornheiser, Michael Wilbon, Sally Jenkins, and Chelsea Janes. Related: Washington Post Sports Department Was Among Last of Its Kind (New York Times; gift link).
He Was Laid Off at The Washington Post After Working There 60 Years (New York Times; gift link)
Propaganda in cinemas, newsrooms slashed: This is the US media under Trump and his tech barons (Nesrine Malik, Guardian)
Faith in the midst of a “coarsening of morality”
Father Jim Martin, SJ, one of my favorite authors, has a new book out (Work in Progress: Confessions of a Busboy, Dishwasher, Caddy, Usher, Factory Worker, Bank Teller, Corporate Tool, and Priest) and is making the media rounds to promote it. He did “Late Night With Stephen Colbert” this week—no surprise, as he’s the longtime “official chaplain” to Colbert Nation.3 But his interview with The New York Times (gift link) is particularly worth a read—or, if you prefer, watch here:
The Times’ Lulu Garcia-Navarro, as most journalists and pundits seem to do, tries to apply conventional political categories—”liberal” and “conservative”—regarding the church. Fr. Martin tries to disabuse her of this notion in a couple of spots.
You are part of a wing of the Catholic Church that is more liberal. I’d say progressive, but I’m more traditional than you might think.
I think every priest is more traditional than you might think. I believe in every word in the creed. I’m very devoted to Mary. I love the saints. I go to Mass every day. I go to confession a couple times a month. So I’m pretty traditional. But on some things, I think people see me as more progressive. I think that’s fair.
For the record, Fr. Martin has been demonized by the painfully vocal Catholic right wing4 for his LGBTQ advocacy. It’s worth pointing out that, as he notes above, being “progressive” in some respects doesn’t preclude adherence to Church practice and belief. (It’s something I try to teach my kid, which is one of the reasons why we left our painfully right-wing parish last year, but that’s a newsletter for another day.)
That said, the Gospel still has a deeply necessary role in the current political dialogue (italics for emphasis mine):
… even if you argue that Renee Good was somehow breaking the law, she did not deserve to be shot in the head. And I guess what I’m seeing is this coarsening of morality in the United States, where people think she deserved it. So when you think of people like the inmates on death row, migrants, protesters, LGBTQ people, people in Ukraine, people in Gaza—everyone deserves to be treated with dignity. … I think the church has been very clear about that, and I’m grateful for that. That’s not a political message; that’s the Gospel.
As for how to deal with the overwhelm of this political moment, Fr. Martin has useful advice (italics for emphasis mine) as the interview winds down:
I also saw a post from the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests [that] said in reference to the Good killing, among other things, that quote, “We need to be brave enough to name evil when we see it.” And there seems to be a call to action in that. But I just wondered what that call to action should be.
Here’s something that I found really interesting. I heard this on a retreat. When Jesus left the earth, right, at the ascension, there were still sick people in Galilee and Judea. He didn’t physically heal everybody. Who did he heal? He healed the people and he preached to the people in front of him. And I think that’s what we’re called to do. We tend to want these sort of grand answers and it’s important to think, you know, globally, but it’s really important to do what we can one on one. So, I find that very freeing. Jesus dealt with the person in front of him, and so can we.
In case you missed it
Sir Ian McKellen’s interview this week with Stephen Colbert is wonderful, but it’s the remarkably prescient speech written by William Shakespeare that he gives from a 400-year-old play (with setup around the 22:00 mark or so) that has drawn so much attention.
Archbishop-elect chooses former orphan found in trash as lector at NYC installation Mass (Catholic Extension Society). The former bishop of Joliet, Illinois, once led the El Salvador orphanage where he met Samuel Jimenez, who later immigrated to the United States. Archbishop-elect Ronald Hicks will be installed today (February 6) in New York.
NPR/PBS News/Marist poll: Two-thirds of Americans say ICE has “gone too far” in immigration enforcement (NPR)
David Byrne took me on a mind-bending tour of his “immersive” new Chicago theater show (Mike Davis, WBEZ)
Mary Tyler Moore stands for Minneapolis (Melanie McFarland, Salon)
Don’t Postpone Happiness: The Psychology of Living Sooner (Ray W. Christner, Psychology Today). Let this be a lesson to those who put off enjoying life until they retire.
“The Far Side” of God and the devil: Cartooning and theology notes on the work of Gary Larson (Steven D. Greydanus, Substack)
What “hope” has represented in Christian history — and what it might mean now (Joanne M. Pierce, The Conversation)
Juggalo facts for kids (Kiddle.co). This is real.
Follow-up on something I noted earlier in this space: After 200 years, the Farmers’ Almanac bets on a digital reboot and new owner (AP)
Minute Maid discontinues frozen juice concentrate after 80 years (NBC News). I don’t think I ever had freshly squeezed orange juice until I was in my 20s.
How the left can win back the internet — and rise again (Robert Topinka, Guardian). Related: “The right has won the family”: My relentless search for lefty mommy bloggers (Kady Ruth Ashcraft, Guardian)
Some older Americans are “unretiring” to keep up with cost of living, AARP survey finds (CNBC)
To be clear, The Wall Street Journal has been wielding that kind of opinion page for decades. But its news coverage has remained largely strong (and has even targeted the current regime in recent months).
Fr. Martin interviewed Colbert for his wonderful “Spiritual Life” podcast and a couple of times for America magazine, including in this pre-Lenten exchange 10 years ago.
I use “Catholic right wing” to refer to those in the Church who are more traditionalist, almost pre-Vatican II in their faith, and vilified Pope Francis for numerous things, including his infamous “Who am I to judge?” line when referring to gay people and crackdown on use of the Tridentine Latin Mass. (They already don’t seem that thrilled with Pope Leo XIV, either.) They loudly dominate Catholic media, particularly podcasting and EWTN. And I’ve found that most, if not all, of these Catholics tend to support President Trump and are unapologetically MAGA; even so, that tendency is not why I use the “right wing” terminology here.