Bezos May Have Saved The Free Press
(TA NEWS) Jeff Bezos is about to announce that he has purchased the iconic Public Health Service tower on Beacon Hill and will retask it as the home for the “Pacific Post Intelligencer” as the Pacific rim him of the Washington Post. . Bezos has also completed of purchased of the Post Intelligencer and will move its iconic globe and eagle logo to the top of the refurbished tower.
As the Internet devastated traditional media, we were left with the ugly world of Fox News with its alternative reality and the confusing hope of the now failed model of a news aggressors, led by the Huffington Post. TV News was taken over by the entertainment divisions of Disney at al and local news papers fired staff, shrinking into irrelevance as wrappers for Wednesday’s food ads.
Then came Jeff Bezos. Four years ago, now the world’s richest man, Mr. Bezos bought the Post for the fore sale price of $250 million. This is peanuts for Bezos. His motivations are not known but the results are historic. For some time the Washington Post logo with the caption “Breaking News” pops up on my phone or on the screens of CNN, MSNBC and … yes even FOX. And, I am now a PAID subscriber!
Although privately held, it appears that the Post under Mr. Bezos is actually making money ! And, it has done this by expanding its staff of writers, reporters and journalists under Martin Baron, the former editor of The Boston Globe memorably portrayed in the film “Spotlight.” Last month, according to figures from comScore, The Post had 78.7 million unique users and 811 million digital page views, trailing only CNN and The New York Times among news organizations. “The published numbers speculating about our subscription and ad revenue have so underestimated the reality that it’s comical,” The Post’s chief revenue officer, Jed Hartman, told me this week. “Our digital ad revenue is in the solid nine figures,” that is, in excess of $100 million. This year, he added, “we’ll have our third straight year of double-digit revenue growth.”
Of course not all the credit goes to the real billionaire. The scandals surrounding Faux billionaire Trump have certainly fed the Post’ subscription drive. Post editor Martin Baron, however,m describes a strategy that undoubtedly goes well beyond TRUMPGATE. So. my question is when is Mr. B going to buy Seattle’s iconic Public Health Hospital and retask it as the Pacific Post Intelligencer?