Bezos could have saved The Washington Post’s local news and sports reporters

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The biggest tech communicative dominating Washington correct now is, incidentally, a media story. Last week, soon aft The Washington Post laid disconnected 400 staffers and closed galore of its desks, and earlier its absentee CEO Will Lewis sewage summarily shoved out, I wrote a file trying to fig retired whether location was moreover a cynical, self-interested logic that Amazon laminitis Jeff Bezos continued to ain the Post: Was it to support journalism, make money, aliases suck up to Donald Trump?

This play I learned of a chat that would person some saved the Post money and supported respective journalists, but ne'er went through: After it was reported successful precocious January that the Post was eyeing the elimination of the sports desk, the Washington City Paper, a renowned newspaper pinch heavy roots successful DC, had offered to acquisition some the Post’s sports and section sections, thereby keeping those journalists employed.

Sources adjacent to the chat said Mark Ein, the proprietor of the City Paper and a portion proprietor of the Washington Commanders, had approached then-CEO Lewis weeks agone pinch a proposal: They could alternatively rotation sports and section into a abstracted entity that the City Paper would past put successful and big connected its platform. (News organizations trading disconnected sections and IPs is not an unheard-of phenomenon.)

Though Lewis was reportedly receptive, the discussions abruptly ended past Wednesday, erstwhile the Post closed those sections altogether and laid disconnected the journalists who staffed them. In the lawsuit of the sports’ journalists, they were correct successful the mediate of the Winter Olympics and astir to screen the Super Bowl.

In consequence to an X post imploring him to prosecute the recently disposable Posties “to springiness this region the sum it deserves,” Ein said that he was “on it.” The Washington Post did not respond to a petition for comment.

Over the weekend, I deed up immoderate much insiders from the worlds of journalism, tech, and the Trump rumors chains, each of whom had worked pinch Bezos and the Post, looking for answers. It turns retired that they were conscionable arsenic confused arsenic I was, and 2 of them allowed maine to people their thoughts.

An executive who’s worked successful publicity and philanthropy and worked pinch Bezos:

“The measurement I utilized to picture billionaires who ain media properties is that they don’t want to constitute much checks, meaning they deliberation the subsidy they’re providing is that they’re not asked for the insubstantial to nonstop them a cheque each year. All their different businesses springiness them dividends, right? But this one, they’re like, Fine. Just don’t suffer money, and conscionable don’t bug maine anymore. They’re trying to rationalize the business by making it suffer little money.

“So, him trying to make it suffer less, that benignant of makes sense. It’s conscionable funny arsenic to why he’s doing it astatine all. And what does it get retired of it? Does he emotion the business? He’s ne'er made a pronouncement truthful overmuch arsenic loving it. I deliberation there’s portion of the equation that isn’t solvable, astatine immoderate level. And past that’s what group are filling successful with, He wants power pinch Trump aliases someway wants america to person his different businesses. I’ve ne'er heard him opportunity thing for illustration that. I’ve ne'er heard anybody from The Washington Post asseverate thing for illustration that. I’ve ne'er seen grounds of it. But it’s benignant of what you capable successful the blank with, erstwhile the equation isn’t adding up. What I deliberation is existent is, it is irrational for him to ain this thing.”

Kara Swisher, the tech journalist and big of Pivot, who put together a very nationalist bid past twelvemonth to acquisition the Post but ne'er heard backmost from Bezos. (Disclosure: Swisher’s podcast Pivot is produced by Vox Media.) Here’s her consequence successful full:

“I person nary thought isolated from successful immoderate non botoxed portion of his erstwhile crisp encephalon he thinks he is doing what it will return to sphere the Post for the agelong term. But I suspect, fixed really feral he has ever been from the start, he wants to show fealty to Trump and astatine the aforesaid clip smother it slow to sphere his options to person a imaginable cudgel astatine the fresh if request be.

This overmuch is true: Bezos has ever been astir optionality and will do immoderate it takes to further his interests. It would beryllium truthful overmuch amended if he sold it and bought Vogue, but since he is 10 times wealthier than erstwhile he acquired the Post successful 2013, why not person it all? Or maybe, conscionable maybe, he’s conscionable a jerk.”

Hmmm. An underappreciated truth astir the layoffs, reported retired first by Sara Fischer astatine Axios: Out of the 400 group laid off, 75 of them came from Arc XP, the Post’s tech publishing limb that was besides funded by Bezos.

There’s a caller type of increasing backlash to Trump connected the right, and it’s led by the cablegram web that had erstwhile been profoundly loyal to him.

Today, Chris Ruddy, the CEO of the right-wing cablegram web Newsmax and a awesome Trump ally, testified successful the Senate successful guidance of the $6.2 cardinal Nexstar-Tegna merger, alongside respective publicity nonprofits supporting section news. The woody would person required that the Federal Communications Commission, led by Chairman Brendan Carr, assistance a regulatory headdress that constricted companies to only owning 39 percent of the tv market. Should the woody spell done the Senate, the Nexstar-Tegna entity would ain 54 percent.

“It’s insane what they’re [Nexstar-Tegna] claiming,” Ruddy told maine connected the telephone aft the hearing. “First of all, they’re claiming that they’re expanding title by consolidating a monolithic merger. And past they declare that they’re protecting section news. Local news is going to beryllium decimated, and Nexstar has a history of firing journalists and consolidating newsrooms wherever they can.”

In his opening testimony, Ruddy based on that the merger would create moreover much firm media consolidation and forestall independent, local, non-corporate companies from being capable to participate the market. “With the illness of section newspapers and the gutting of section power owed to anterior consolidation, tv now stands mostly unsocial arsenic the superior root of section news,” he stated, pointing retired that moreover section news stories that spell viral connected tech platforms originate from section TV news. “When you raise the nationalist ownership cap, you are effectively saying that 2 or

three corporations should yet ain astir aliases each tv stations successful America — and by extension, power section news. That is what consolidation genuinely means.”

Newsmax itself has immoderate conflict scars from akin deals: Although it’s the seventh-most-watched cablegram transmission successful the state according to Nielsen ratings, it’s besides a predominant target of nationalist media companies many times undermining its expertise to aerial crossed the country. As an example, Ruddy explicitly called retired Nexstar for creating a knockoff and trading it for cheap:

“Nexstar besides insists that cablegram operators transportation its little-watched cablegram news channel, NewsNation. Last year, Newsmax delivered astatine slightest 5 times the ratings of NewsNation, yet cablegram operators were forced not only to transportation NewsNation, but to salary licence fees importantly higher than those paid to Newsmax. We perceive a awesome woody astir the free market. But this is not the free market. This is

market leverage and manipulation utilized to harm consumers and suppress title — specifically title from independent voices for illustration Newsmax.”

In November 2025, Trump, whom Ruddy has donated to since 2016, vehemently blasted the woody connected Truth Social, saying that it would “allow the Radical Left Networks to ‘enlarge,’” and truthful springiness mainstream media a tighter grip connected the country: “NO EXPANSION OF THE FAKE NEWS NETWORKS. If anything, make them SMALLER!” But accelerated guardant to past Saturday, and Trump abruptly changed his mind, writing connected Truth Social that the merger would really “help sound retired the Fake News because location will beryllium much competition, and astatine a higher and much blase level.”

So what changed? There’s a circumstantial genre of “sucking up to Trump” that goes backmost to his first administration, erstwhile Trump was often mainlining cablegram news: Special liking groups would bargain ads successful circumstantial tv markets and tally them connected Fox News successful the hopes that Trump was watching. And complete the past fewer months — particularly during assemblage and pro shot playoff games — I’ve been catching two very circumstantial ads paid for by a group called Keep News Local, which appears to beryllium straight asking Trump to support the Nexstar-Tegna merger. Their statement has a very Trumpian gloss: Over footage of the president, a voice-over claims that the merger would support “independent voices,” would “defeat the clone news media,” and was “crucial for MAGA to survive.” (The cherry connected top: “President Trump defeated the clone news monopolies earlier done independent voices and section news.”)

Punchbowl reported past week that Keep News Local, which besides ran a run connected X, is simply a right-wing conjugation that’s successful favour of the merger, and includes Building America’s Future, a group backed by Elon Musk. I’ll measurement successful by saying that this whitethorn beryllium the slightest subtle power run advertisement I’ve ever seen connected Washington television. But subtlety hasn’t been portion of Nexstar’s Trump strategy writ large; location was, aft all, the clip past September erstwhile they attempted to get Jimmy Kimmel Live! canceled, prompted by Carr attacking the late-night big aft he made a joke related to the governmental fallout from Charlie Kirk’s death. Conversely, a counter-group called Keep It Local Media began pumping retired its ain ads against the deal.

Ruddy told maine that while he was not affiliated pinch immoderate of the governmental groups supporting aliases opposing the merger, he knew that the pro-merger groups were putting “a batch of money” into the campaign. That said, he couldn’t opportunity whether they’d person the desired effect: “I deliberation astatine the extremity of the day, Trump makes his ain mind. I’m not judge he’s going to beryllium influenced by an advertisement campaign.”

TPUSA claims that its Super Bowl halftime show starring Kid Rock — MAGA counterprogramming to the NFL’s charismatic Bad Bunny halftime show — drew 6.1 cardinal concurrent viewers connected YouTube TV.

Streaming numbers are still a fudgy art, but 1 thing’s for sure: That number would person been higher if they’d been capable to livestream the show connected Musk’s X. Alas, TPUSA had to cancel the X livestream astatine the past minute, and an insider told The Verge it was owed to copyright and euphony licensing issues. Supposedly, 1 opus was not cleared to beryllium broadcast connected the “everything app” owed to an aged clause grandfathered successful from the days erstwhile it was Twitter.