Jeff Bezos – Letter to The Washington Post employees

Garth Beyer

To the employees of The Washington Post:

You’ll have heard the news, and many of you will greet it with a degree of apprehension. When a single family owns a company for many decades, and when that family acts for all those decades in good faith, in a principled manner, in good times and in rough times, as stewards of important values – when that family has done such a good job – it is only natural to worry about change

So, let me start with something critical. The values of The Post do not need changing. The paper’s duty will remain to its readers and not to the private interests of its owners. We will continue to follow the truth wherever it leads, and we’ll work hard not to make mistakes. When we do, we will own up to them quickly and completely.

I won’t be leading The Washington Post day-to-day. I am happily living in “the other Washington” where I have a day job that I love. Besides that, The Post already has an excellent leadership team that knows much more about the news business than I do, and I’m extremely grateful to them for agreeing to stay on.

There will, of course, be change at The Post over the coming years. That’s essential and would have happened with or without new ownership. The Internet is transforming almost every element of the news business: shortening news cycles, eroding long-reliable revenue sources, and enabling new kinds of competition, some of which bear little or no news-gathering costs. There is no map, and charting a path ahead will not be easy. We will need to invent, which means we will need to experiment. Our touchstone will be readers, understanding what they care about – government, local leaders, restaurant openings, scout troops, businesses, charities, governors, sports – and working backwards from there. I’m excited and optimistic about the opportunity for invention.

Journalism plays a critical role in a free society, and The Washington Post — as the hometown paper of the capital city of the United States — is especially important. I would highlight two kinds of courage the Grahams have shown as owners that I hope to channel. The first is the courage to say wait, be sure, slow down, get another source. Real people and their reputations, livelihoods and families are at stake. The second is the courage to say follow the story, no matter the cost. While I hope no one ever threatens to put one of my body parts through a wringer, if they do, thanks to Mrs. Graham’s example, I’ll be ready.

I want to say one last thing that’s really not about the paper or this change in ownership. I have had the great pleasure of getting to know Don very well over the last ten plus years. I do not know a finer man.

Sincerely,

Jeff Bezos

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Letter found here

This makes me curious, not necessarily about where Jeff will take the paper (that’s a natural curiosity to everyone in knowledge of the ownership change), but what I or you would do if we all the sudden found ourselves in charge of the newspaper – or any newspaper for that matter.

Would we turn it completely digital? Would we break it up into smaller newspapers covering specific parts of Washington (and America)? Would we find a new way to challenge advertisers? Would we shift the writing toward more gonzo journalism?

These questions, as well as hundreds of others, I’m sure, are questions Jeff is asking himself. Think on them.

Now imagine if the answers you give to the questions turn out to be the same ones Jeff gives. Exciting, huh? Now is the time to make critical educated decisions on what to do with a newspaper company, when you’re not responsible, and you can verify what works, what experts* would do, and how to handle the ever-changing** newspaper market.

*You can argue Jeff Bezos is not a newspaper expert, but he brings enough to the table for me to call him one.

**Some say dying, and sure, the newspaper industry is dying, but when I answer the questions above, I think it’s changing more than dying.

 

Garth Beyer
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