Op-Ed Sections, Threat or Menace?

[John]

Technical question ... because I don't have any online newspaper subscriptions.*

In the old days, when readers called, wrote or stormed into the newsroom to huff "I'm canceling my subscription!" it wasn't like they got a refund. Often, dead tree edition subscriptions paid for six months or a year ahead of time (for some sort of savings to the suscriber). So when those people canceled? Hey, we already have your money for the next six-plus months.

Today, how does that work with digital subscribers? Do they usually pay per month, or can they buy at longer periods of time?

Either way, losing 10% of your subscribers is a financial kick in the ass.

* -- well, technically I can read my shop's website for free because I get the print edition for free. And I subscribe to a large regional daily paper, getting the Sunday print edition, and therefore can read their online content freebee. So I guess I meant I don't have any online only subscriptions.

You can do monthly or yearly subscriptions. When I canceled my Post subscription yesterday, I had the option of it just not renewing at the end of the yearlong subscription or stopping right away. I chose right away. Did the same for Amazon Prime.

 

[WriteThinking]

yeah, he obviously doesn't value the journalism that's produced by the newsroom or the hard-working journalist producing it. Does he think it's going to hurt Jeff Bezos?

I'd love to know what the larger endgame is here with celebrities. Is it to force Bezos to sell the paper? Is it to see the Washington Post reduced to a hull because of staff walkouts and rebuild as, what? The embodiment of David Simon's values?

Probably not any of that, and some people will probably go back to the Post again at some point in the future. But the reality is, there are very few ways to make a tangible statement of dissatisfaction with a newspaper. People are doing what they can right now. And 250,000+ cancelled subscriptions is quite a statement, particularly for a paper of the quality and reputation of the Washington Post.

 

[Azrael]

yeah, he obviously doesn't value the journalism that's produced by the newsroom or the hard-working journalist producing it. Does he think it's going to hurt Jeff Bezos?

I'd love to know what the larger endgame is here with celebrities. Is it to force Bezos to sell the paper? Is it to see the Washington Post reduced to a hull because of staff walkouts and rebuild as, what? The embodiment of David Simon's values?

David Simon - like me - sounds skeptical of the Bezos (non)apologia because of the convenient timing. It plays a lot more like obedience-in-advance than it does some latebreaking principled stand on the value of endorsements.

I guess I'm not sure what celebrities have to do with anything. Why not ask the 250,000 people who cancelled their subscriptions what they expect to achieve by it?

 

[Azrael]

Marty sez:

 

[Alma]

Nonprofit journalism is plenty slanted - toward its donors and board members. Who generally - not always! - tilt hard left.

 

[Azrael]

Standing Up to Trump

 

[swingline]

Nonprofit journalism is plenty slanted - toward its donors and board members. Who generally - not always! - tilt hard left.

So?

 

[justgladtobehere]

So?

Don't expect non-profit organizations to be as pure as the driven snow and don't ignore the fact that those organizations can be influenced by practical considerations of funding.

 

[WriteThinking]

The Washington Post drama goes on:

MSN

 

[Azrael]

The Washington Post drama goes on:

MSN

Never trust anything from the Washington Free Beacon.

But here's its story without the Fox News / MSN cut and paste.

EXCLUSIVE: WaPo Opinion Editor David Shipley Blames Bezos for Endorsement Drama, Tells Staff They Can Quit as Distraught Journalists Slam Bezos for 'Conflict of Interest' and 'Thumb on the Scale'

 

[Azrael]

also

https://www.salon.com/2024/10/31/washington-post-readers-arent-buying-jeff-bezos-excuse-making/

 

[Alma]

So?

It's not an answer to the concern at hand, really. It doesn't resolve the bias about which Bezos writes.

I'm not sure how it's easily resolved, honestly. Journalists national and local by and large lean left-to-hard-left. So does academia, the institution that produces almost all mainstream journalists. A cottage industry of right wing/heterodox idiots flourish because of a relative hivemind has formed in mainstream journalism.

Clay Travis, a buffoon, has the ear of people in part because of it.