Washington Post

The recent acquisition of the Washington Post by Jeff Bezoz, founder of

Amazon, has set up a very interesting series of accounts of how and why he

would ever do such a thing. Short answer, no one has a clue. The commentary

is coming from the ranks of the press, and offers an unattractive glimpse at just how

depressed and paranoid press folk are these days. 

The New Yorker takes it from the Warren Buffett angle; if Mr. B didn’t take it, well

it’s a dud. At that price, anyway (250 mil, with a cap on pensions). The

assumption being that those money people will pick up anything, anytime there is a sweet 

dollar to be made.

I have never actually held a W Post in my hand but I have consulted the Web site on a few 

occasions. Those few times were, in point of fact, totally crucial; like wanting to know if the U.S. 

was at war and the like. And every time the Post told me what I wanted

to know, and that before anyone else on the Web. Those Post people are there, contacting 

the right people, drinking at the right bars. They cover the seat of government better than 

anyone else. Am I the only one - other than Jeff B. - to

appreciate this fact. I don’t read them more often because I can’t take the strain of

knowing all that, everyday; I have a life, work on computing problems. They just better

be there when I need them.

The European press has been telling me all kinds of things about Jeff B I didn’t know.

He is wonderfully creative and his acquisition heralds one generation of media presence

scavenging a former one. Certainly so from the point of view of jobs and employment

conditions, at which Le Monde hints darkly. Will he find a way to make money here? My 

guess, oh yes. Because the Web changes the matrix of culture and localization, but there still is one. 

For example, I consult the Web site of the Los Angeles Times almost everyday even though 

I live at the other side of the continent, in a French-speaking community. I don’t have a 

subscription: I’m not going to eat lunch there. I used to enjoy their food and restaurant section 

very much, in a literary sort of a way. I still peruse what their foodies are worried about. And 

they are a wonderful font of good taste on ‘industry’ matters. Is Lindsay Lohan over the edge or 

just marketing her leggings brand. The L.A. Times knows.

The Nouvel Obs thinks Jeff B bought the paper like one buys a vintage car, as a little

reward to oneself. He also went looking for a moon mission rocket at the bottom of the ocean, 

a true collector of the tech age. But unlike Gates and others, he is a profoundly anti-charity 

kind of person, keeping employment high in the Seattle region. Here I know something 

about Seattle that the Parisian crew from the Obs doesn’t know. Seattle

is the home not only of Microsoft and Starbucks, it is also where the major gaming

companies have their headquarters, where the coders and graphic artists put in their

hours. How interesting is that. The Obs muses that Bezos wants better access to

government; I’m not so sure that’s how it works...