Bezos’s new opinion approach sparks a blowback 

Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos’s decision to limit the paper’s opinion section to pieces advocating “personal liberties and free markets” has roiled the paper and prompted a flurry of takes about what he’s trying to achieve.

Amid the backlash, which was instant and intense, some themes stood out. 

The first was that Bezos’s move has to be taken in the context of the moment. “Especially in light of the billionaire’s other blatant efforts to cozy up to Donald Trump, Bezos’s move is more than a gut punch; it’s more like a death knell for the once-great news organization he bought in 2013,” Margaret Sullivan wrote in The Guardian.  

Second, Bezos’s assertion that an opinion section does not need a broad range of views because “the internet does that job” was met with skepticism. Not so, The Chicago Tribune wrote in an editorial, because “social media channels that once fostered such opinions have now become polarized.” In CJR, Andrew Rosenthal, who ran The New York Times opinion section for nine years, called it “a shockingly naive or cynical comment by a man who owns a giant chunk of the internet.”

Finally, there were somewhat relieved observations that Bezos so far has not shown interest in meddling in the Post’s news coverage, and editor Matt Murray sent a reassuring note to staff along those lines, reported NPR’s David Folkenflik. But at least one reporter, Jeff Stein, said on Bluesky that if that happened he would resign. CNN reported that staffers are in “open rebellion.”

News In Focus
Headlines, resources and events aligned with API’s four areas of focus.

 

Civic Discourse & Democracy

>> Will others dive into the White House press pool? (CJR)

In light of the Trump White House decision to wrest control of the press pool from the White House Correspondents’ Association, Paul Farhi offers a detailed explanation of how the press pool has traditionally worked. One concern now, he writes, is that the outlets the White House wants to include may not have the resources or commitment to do the job. “The White House may think it’s a way to expand the field,” he writes. “The practical realities may work against it.”

>> Related: White House Correspondents’ Association cedes control of pool reports to Trump administration (Politico)

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Culture & Inclusion

>> How gender affects sources’ attitudes toward interviews (RQ1)

A study from Australia looking at sources’ experiences with media interviews found that both men and women had positive experiences and reported similar levels of harassment as a result of their appearances in the news. However, women were “significantly more likely than men to cite concerns about potential harassment and their appearance, as well as lack of specific experience, as barriers to agreeing to interviews,” write Mark Coddington and Seth Lewis. 

Related: Want to improve your source diversity? Check out API’s Source Matters tool. 

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Community Engagement & Trust

>> New from API: Essential contract guidelines for navigating influencer collaborations

Influencer collaborations can feel risky, but one way to mitigate that risk is to get the relationship, non-negotiables and expectations down in writing with a formal contract. Through API’s Election + Influencer Learning Cohort with the Knight Election Hub, we worked with a small team of lawyers to draft a model contract with the aim of helping newsrooms as they embark on these new partnerships.

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Revenue & Resilience

>> New from API: 3 tips for empowering sales teams in news organizations (Better News)

The media sales environment is rapidly changing, adding to what is already a high-pressure responsibility in news organizations. Richard E. Brown, the chief innovation and growth officer for the nonprofit investigative news outlet Wisconsin Watch, recently shared with Table Stakes alumni three ways news organizations can empower their sales teams, starting with a “communications strategy curve.”

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What else you need to know

🎙️ NPR’s chief diversity officer to retire, with DEI in the political spotlight (NPR)

💸 Pivot Fund renews support for grassroots newsrooms (The Pivot Blog)

👏 6 tips for journalists who want to effect positive change (International Journalists’ Network)

🚀 Social media company Spill launches equity crowdfunding round (Axios)

⚖️ Mississippi judge lifts order that forced newspaper to remove an editorial (The New York Times)

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Weekend reads

+ A new public policy agenda has a vision for “local news for the people” (Nieman Lab)

+ In Trump’s Washington, a Moscow-like chill takes hold (The New York Times)

+ The new Trump-family Megaphone (The New Yorker)

+ Meet the new state media (Mother Jones)