• Optional@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    But Lewis and his team of spokespeople (he has a personal representative, in addition to those who handle public relations on behalf of the outlet), would have likely been able to contain the mess, if it were to have remained isolated. Unfortunately for Lewis, it did not. Buzbee’s ouster led to the revelation that weeks beforehand Lewis had pressured her to refrain from publishing a story about his alleged involvement in the U.K. phone hacking scandal. At the time of the scandal, which engulfed Rupert Murdoch’s media empire and was revived by a new Prince Harry lawsuit, Lewis was a senior executive at News Corporation, a position that has left an indelible stain on his resume.

    Murdoch sewer-meister spewing more garbage at the WaPo.

    This is not disappointing. This is not sad. This is not bad. This is outrageous.

    My “journalists are respectable, news media are responsible” lemming friend needs to grok this. This is normal. This is destructive. This is going to destroy us all.

    • btaf45@lemmy.worldOP
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      6 months ago

      It is outrageous as hell that a Fox News exec is new CEO of the Washington Post.

      • rayyy@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Fox News exec is new CEO of the Washington Post.

        Don’t worry, they will still print enough truthful news to keep people believing they are journalists while guiding their audiences to their fascist agenda.

    • Null User Object
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      6 months ago

      How Lewis cleans up this mammoth of a mess that he has created for himself remains to be seen. Can he do it? One wonders what Jeff Bezos, the billionaire owner of The Post, who must be growing quite tired of constantly seeing his newspaper ensnared in controversy, thinks of the situation. Inside the newsroom, though, the sentiment is plain as day.

      “He’s really losing the newsroom on a large scale,” a staffer said, sizing up the state of affairs. “People don’t trust him, don’t believe he has the same values and ethics as our journalists and there are major concerns of how far he would go to censor or shut down coverage.”

    • tal@lemmy.today
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      6 months ago

      Yeah. Though…reading the numbers, it sounds like it was a pretty bad buy.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Post

      In October 2013, the Graham family sold the newspaper to Nash Holdings, a holding company owned by Jeff Bezos, for $250 million.[7]

      https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/22/business/media/jeff-bezos-washington-post.html

      The Post is on a pace to lose about $100 million in 2023, according to two people with knowledge of the company’s finances

      That’s a pretty large amount of money to be losing each year relative to the value of the company.

    • circuscritic@lemmy.ca
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      6 months ago

      Yes, and his appointment was a clear signal that certain parties had ideas on how WaPo could better align with their interests.

      Which is why this is so amusing. His baggage was a big reason why he was hired, and they had to know it would come out. No reason not to weather the storm and just communicate via friendly interviews and strategically placed PR/leaks.

      Lol. Nope. Instead he said, “Nah, I got this. Hold my silver spoon tooter.”

  • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    The Washington Post has advocated for a direct US military invasion of Syria multiple times and yet that didn’t impact morale apparently

    • btaf45@lemmy.worldOP
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      6 months ago

      Why would a guest editorial affect morale? Why was the defeat of ISIS a bad thing? You do realize that the Syrian dictator was the cause of a massive war in Syria, not the USA right? You do realize that Putin sent massive military forces into Syria to keep their naval base right and prop up the dictator right?

      Turkey is the country that should have “invaded” Syria, not the USA. They are right on the border and Syria was part of their country less than 100 years earlier. They could have went in and established safe zones for the refuges fleeing the dictator and kicked out ISIS.

      • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        It wasn’t A GUEST editorial. It was multiple, plural and it was from the editorial board not a guest. Also this is before ISIS. Also they were on the side of the so-called moderates against Asaad.

        Yes I am aware that Asaad is a bad person. Just because the dictator is a bad person doesn’t mean people opposing them are our friends and it also doesn’t mean the US should commit troops. We are not the police department for planet Earth nor should we ever ever be.

        Yes I am aware Putin was/is on the side of the Syrian government. Again, that is not a justification (by the treaties the US signed) for an US troop ground invasion.

        The Washington Post pushed for the US to illegally invade a country we had no business being in. They pushed for it repeatedly. As I mentioned to my emails to them on the subject, if they want to fight there they should fly over and do it themselves. I am sure their best buddies the “moderates” would love the help.

        • Eatspancakes84@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          Oh that’s horrible. During the Arab spring, when Assad was literally levelling Aleppo killing his own population and destroying cultural heritage to booth, some people wanted the US to intervene. How could one ever again work with such inhumane colleagues? /s

          • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            Yes very terrible. I wont downplay it.

            Now, did the US sign a legally binding document in 1945 that forbid wars of aggression without UN authorization, yes or no?

            Watch as this question gets ignored.

              • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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                6 months ago

                Really every warmonger can be defeated by the Socratic method. Which is why they constantly avoid it. Declare that a problem exists, declare that violence is the only way whatsoever to get rid of the problem, and then fuck off to hang out with their military contractor buddies.

                The Iraq war could have been stopped with Congress just asking some basic questions, you know if they wanted to.