So the 48-year-old female who got her position through membership in the Graham family, which had owned the paper since 1933,
will be superseded by a 59-year-old male lawyer, who worked in the Reagan administration —
the Reagan administration! — and who co-founded Politico.
Ryan’s background in Republican politics also is certain to raise questions about the direction of The Post’s editorial page, among the most influential in the nation....
Ryan edited the books "Ronald Reagan: The Wisdom and Humor of the Great Communicator" and "Ronald Reagan: The Great Communicator." Hey, Ryan, tear down that paywall!
Weymouth was touched by controversy early in her tenure when Politico...
Politico!
... reported in 2009 that she had attempted to schedule a series of exclusive, off-the-record dinners at her home — called “salons” — with business leaders, administration and congressional officials and Post journalists. Amid public backlash, the events were canceled before any were held.
Oh, yeah. I remember blogging that, under the heading
"The Washington Post loses its mind."
"Underwriting Opportunity: An evening with the right people can alter the debate. Underwrite and participate in this intimate and exclusive Washington Post Salon, an off-the-record dinner and discussion at the home of CEO and Publisher Katharine Weymouth. ... Bring your organization’s CEO or executive director literally to the table. Interact with key Obama administration and congressional leaders."
Price: $250,000. With "parameters" said to ensure that that the newspaper "did not in any way compromise our integrity" (such as it was).
Good luck to Ryan and Bezos. And
tear down that paywall.
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27 comments:
FWIW The Post Editorial Page is "Right" of the news section and way right of the NYT Editorial pages.
Meaning, they will editorialize about Democratic scandals and in favor of good governing.
They always endorse dems though
Maybe Mr. Bezo has seen that Fox news is very popular while MSNBC is flailing.
certain to raise questions about the direction of The Post’s editorial page
Questions? Oh God forbid the WaPo not be reliably liberal on its editorial pages.
A sad day for nepotism.
I don't know anything about the new guy, but if Bezos is in part picking him to add editorial balance and make the paper appeal more to the right of center, then smart move. A more moderate counterbalance to the New York Times would do pretty good business, even in an industry that's slowly dying.
Plus it's nice to see nepotism lose a point or two.
There certainly is an underpopulated ecological niche available.
I was waiting for Bezos to do something like this. Dems and their politics will become progressively unpopular in the next 5 years -- watch for it.
Fun fact. Katharine Weymouth is the niece of Tina Weymouth - bassist of Talking Heads.
Bezos must have committed to Donald Graham to wait one year before replacing her.
Wiki lost no time on posting Frederick J. Ryan Jr background.
Even though the Post Editorial Pages editorializes liberal, they have a strong stable of real conservative columnists, not just the weak-sauce RINOs that the NYT keeps as pets.
Before folks get excited I would counsel to wait a couple of years to see if in fact the WaPo stops being a DNC house organ.
"...tear down that paywall."
Ronald Althouse
Maybe with a more honest newspaper that does real investigative journalism, they may be able to afford to do just that.
Even though the Post Editorial Pages editorializes liberal, they have a strong stable of real conservative columnists, not just the weak-sauce RINOs that the NYT keeps as pets.
And, my favorite, the Volokh Conspiracy moved over to the WaPo at the beginning of the year. So far, the Conspirators claim no attempts by the higher ups to silence them. And, they have criticized the mother paper at times, so far with impunity - I think probably most notably David Bernstein in regards to their reporting on Israel, recently calling them out for accepting Hamas originated casualty reports in the recent Gaza conflict.
The pay wall is a bit disconcerting. Volokh managed to get them to tweak their blogging software and got us six months free access, and then that was extended, I believe, through the rest of the year. I looked at paying for access, and the price was a bit scary. Not sure what I will do when our grace period runs out.
Before folks get excited I would counsel to wait a couple of years to see if in fact the WaPo stops being a DNC house organ.
I don't see them quite that way. Rather, that is how I view the NYT. Rather, I see the WaPo as the home town newspaper in a company town. And, the problem in that sort of situation is that they don't want to alienate their home town constituents, who in this case are the politicians and employees of the federal government. Part of what that means is that they don't seem as quick to tar the more establishment Republicans, though the renegades and newly elected seem to be fair game.
Yes, they are somewhat liberal, but so are probably the bulk of their readership. DC is the center of Big Government and Crony Capitalism in the country, and people who believe in either one tend to flock there, while those of us who don't, flee (ok, it has been over 30 years for me).
The pay wall is a bit disconcerting. Volokh managed to get them to tweak their blogging software and got us six months free access, and then that was extended, I believe, through the rest of the year. I looked at paying for access, and the price was a bit scary.
I get through the WSJ Paywall by getting the title of the article and then using Bing to find it
"Liberal" Bezos hires "Reaganite" Ryan who founded "Leftist" Politico...
Right and Left, above it all is only money...
Looks like an example of a company replacing one product or service that the public doesn't want, with one the company thinks the public will like better. '
Only time will tell, but given the WAPO Salons dust up, it might be a move in the correct direction.
Ain't capitalism grand?
I saw this on Twitter:
"Bezos pick of ex Reagan guy Ryan as publisher of WaPo is genius. Insulates the paper from liberal bias while continuing leftwing agenda."
Just remember, Paul Krugman can put "Former Reagan Administration Official" on his resume too
Power Line doesn't think that there is going to be much in the way of editorial change: Washington Post selects Reagan staffer as publisher, but don’t expect change in slant with reasoning somewhat similar to mine - that their clientèle is left of center. The other point they made is that Ryan is, above other things, a businessman, looking at the bottom line, and if that means catering to the left, then that is what he will do (and did at Politico).
As noted above, Washington DC is essentially a one company town. The leading paper there isn't going to be critical of that company. It'll take a lot more than appointing a former Reagan administration official to shed their reputation as "Pravda on the Potomac."
"Just remember, Paul Krugman can put "Former Reagan Administration Official" on his resume too."
Don't forget, he also did work for Enron as well.
Ryan’s background in Republican politics also is certain to raise questions about the direction of The Post’s editorial page, One such question might be: Has someone in the print media finally figured out why Fox News is so successful?
The trouble with the MSM is not that they work for the Democratic Party, but that they think the Party should work for them.
Althouse writes OMG! 30 Rock prose.
I hope this does not screw up my system, but I think I should share. You can get around the Post's pay wall by using a browser in stealth or incognito mode. After ten articles, they will shut you off, but you can open another browser, like Firefox, or Chrome, in the same mode and start all over. the post thinks you are a different person and gives you another ten free articles.
Well, Politico is slightly better than MSNBC in terms of bias, not as good as The Hill, which appears to try.
It would be interesting to see the Post more committed to gathering news, wherever the chips fall, and less committed to Obama's political needs.
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