Betsy Reed, editor of The Guardian US, speaks out about the craven refusal of both Los Angeles Times and Washington Post to endorse Kamala Harris in the election — that is, to reject fascism:
"It has never been clearer that media ownership matters to democracy."
That's it in a nutshell. As long as fascism is good for business elites and rich men, bring it on…. That's what these beyond shameful media outlets are saying.
"This is cowardice, a moment of darkness that will leave democracy as a casualty."
~ Marty Baron, former executive editor of Washingon Post quoted by D. Earl Stephens
Stephens adds,
"When a newspaper with the logo 'Democracy Dies in Darkness' fails to endorse the candidate that stands up for that Democracy, they are not being accurate or credible.
They in fact are completely worthless.
Dead."
#Trump #fascism #WashingtonPost
/2
https://dearlstephens.substack.com/p/breaking-the-washington-post-has
"The editor of the editorial page had already drafted the paper’s endorsement of Kamala Harris when publisher Will Lewis—who is a new hire, hailing from the Rupert Murdoch journalism tree—quashed it and then released a CYA statement about how the paper was 'returning to its roots' of not endorsing candidates. The Post itself reported that the decision was made by the paper’s owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos."
#Trump #fascism #WashingtonPost #JeffBezos #Murdoch
/3
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/bezos-kills-washington-post-endorsement-guardrails-falling
"Our corporate media, run by billionaires, are abdicating their duty and fidelity to democracy by proactively bending the knee to Trump and his dictatorial ambitions. The people must resist."
~ Wajahat Ali
#Trump #fascism #WashingtonPost #JeffBezos #RupertMurdoch
/4
https://thelefthook.substack.com/p/democracy-dies-for-billionaires
"Will Lewis should be ashamed, if shame is an emotion he is capable of feeling. What an empty shell of a leader. What an embarrassing decline for a once-venerated news organization.
This decision won’t impact the outcome of the election in eleven days. But it will have a lasting impact on how people think of the Washington Post."
~ Dave Karpf
#Trump #fascism #WashingtonPost #JeffBezos #RupertMurdoch #WillLewis
/5
https://davekarpf.substack.com/p/a-suggestion-for-the-washington-posts
"As the 2024 election looms, media self-censorship in response to Trump’s potential return threatens the democratic role of journalism. …
In times like these, it's crucial for media organizations to remember their responsibility to the public. Anticipatory obedience may offer short-term safety, but it poses long-term risks to the very fabric of democracy."
~ Parker Molloy
#Trump #fascism #WashingtonPost #JeffBezos #RupertMurdoch #WillLewis
/6
https://www.readtpa.com/p/playing-it-safe-is-risking-democracy
The aren't obeying in advance.
They want Trump to win.
#Trump #fascism #WashingtonPost #JeffBezos #RupertMurdoch #WillLewis #LosAngelesTimes #media
/7
"One week before the mortals finish voting and might elect an authoritarian, one whose former chief of staff calls him a fascist, the Washington Post has decided that silence is the best way to guide its readers.
Silence, after all, will not offend the authoritarian should he win."
~ Benjamin Wittes
#Trump #fascism #WashingtonPost #JeffBezos #RupertMurdoch #WillLewis
/8
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-washington-post-bends-the-knee
"Their billionaire owners [of Los Angeles Times and Washington Post] are Trump enablers. ...
The only credible explanation I can think of is that the Post’s billionaire owner, Jeff Bezos, doesn’t want to raise the ire of Donald Trump, should Trump become president — especially now that Trump has declared his intention to punish his opponents."
~ Robert Reich
#Trump #fascism #WashingtonPost #JeffBezos
/9
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/cowardice-and-intimidation-at-the
"Bezos’s other businesses have many federal government contracts, and his largest — Amazon — is the current target of a federal antitrust suit.
Assuming this is the explanation, it stinks. It undermines the credibility of one of our leading newspapers."
"We are come to a juncture in America where, as in the first Gilded Age, enormous wealth is lodged in a very few hands — hands that are now either actively supporting Trump (such as Elon Musk) or afraid to come out against him for fear he’ll wreak vengeance on them if they do."
"For decades, the business lobby fundamentally moderated the nation’s immigration debate. But in the age of Trump, fearful of advocating publicly on this issue, they’ve largely prioritized other things like corporate tax cuts and deregulation."
~ Eli Hager
#Trump #fascism #WashingtonPost #JeffBezos #EconomicElites #SuperRich #immigration #TaxCuts #deregulation
/12
https://www.propublica.org/article/business-lobby-immigration-reform-trump
For decades, the business lobby fundamentally moderated the nation’s immigration debate. But in the age of Trump, fearful of advocating publicly on this issue, they’ve largely prioritized other things like corporate tax cuts and deregulation.
"It is not hard to guess why Bezos and Soon-Shiong made these decisions. Both are billionaires whose other businesses could be hurt by people who conflate their papers’ editorials with the two men’s own opinions. And both are hedging against the chance of Donald Trump winning the election, since he will surely turn his vengeance on those who opposed him."
~ Judd Legum
#Trump #fascism #WashingtonPost #JeffBezos #EconomicElites #SuperRich #immigration #TaxCuts
/13
https://www.wonkette.com/p/thanks-for-all-these-new-wonkette
"This is a dark day in American journalism. Both papers [Los Angeles Times and Washington Post] have made clear their disdain and disrespect for Donald Trump and published numerous columns on their editorial pages calling him unfit to serve. The refusal of the Washington Post and LA Times to publish editorials endorsing Kamala Harris at this point is nothing but chickenshit."
~ Lucian K. Truscott
#Trump #fascism #WashingtonPost #LosAngelesTimes #media
/14
https://luciantruscott.substack.com/p/the-washington-post-and-la-times
"Los Angeles Times editorial page editor Mariel Garza, along with journalists Robert Greene and Karin Klein, resigned from the paper after its decision not to endorse Harris, and nearly 2,000 readers canceled their subscriptions."
~ Heather Cox Richardson
#Trump #fascism #LosAngelesTimes #WashingtonPost #JeffBezos
/15
A bombshell story last night from the Wall Street Journal reported that billionaire Elon Musk, one of the richest men in the world, who is backing the election of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump with a daily million-dollar sweepstakes giveaway and gifts of tens of millions to the campaign, has been in regular contact with Russian president Vladimir Putin since late 2022.
"The Washington Post, too, has seen about 2,000 subscribers bow out, and fourteen of the newspaper’s columnists called the decision not to condemn Trump’s threats to the 'freedom of the press and the values of the Constitution' 'a terrible mistake.' Cartoonist Ann Telnaes published a blacked-out square, playing on the Post’s motto that democracy dies in darkness."
#Trump #fascism #LosAngelesTimes #WashingtonPost #JeffBezos
/16
"William Lewis is a liar who apparently believes the American people are stupid. As Santiago Mayor (@SSantiagoMayor) said on Twitter, 'Funny how no newspaper had an issue with their editorial boards calling on Biden to withdraw.'”
~ Robert B. Hubbell
#Trump #fascism #LosAngelesTimes #WashingtonPost #JeffBezos #WillLewis
/17
https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/neutrality-in-the-face-of-fascism
"On the same day that Bezos ordered WaPo not to endorse Kamala Harris (which the Editorial Board was prepared to do), Trump met with representatives of Bezos’ struggling space flight company, Blue Origin."
#Trump #fascism #LosAngelesTimes #WashingtonPost #JeffBezos #WillLewis #EconomicElites #CorporateLeaders
/18
"This is a rather monstrous abdication of responsibility in the face of the very real fascist threat that looms over us all—especially those of us who aren’t billionaires. It is yet another stark and troubling instance of the failures of our corporate media to do its job."
~ Mary Trump
#Trump #fascism #WashingtonPost #JeffBezos
/19
https://www.marytrump.org/p/democracy-dies-in-darkness-indeed
there it is
Indeed, one must be blind not to see it...
@wdlindsy unfortunately journalism has always been about political affiliations of the publicatioms owners. We saw a brief period of reaction to the yellow journalism of the early 1900s with sensationalist capitalist journalism serving ultra wealthy and elite interestsnof its owners and friends.
Ever sinc3 cable news became a thing we largely returned to that sensationalist mentality. Papers have had to compete with that and unfortunately only billionaires seemed interested in keeping papers alive if anything for their own purposes.
It is no surprise and infact kind is laughable that anyone expected these papers to give 2 shits about such principles as democracy except to use them as empty platitudes for marketing.
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