Can you murder a newspaper? The Atlantic magazine thinks so. At least they accuse billionaire owner Jeff Bezos of attempting to murder his newspaper, The Washington Post. Bezos, they say, has a plan “to kill everything that makes the paper special.” The 150-year old Post is, according to The Atlantic, “An indispensable national institution, and a pillar of the democratic system.”

Recent news would seem to support their accusation. In pursuing what it terms a “broad strategic reset,” The Post laid off 300 newsroom journalists, roughly one-third of its staff. International coverage was gutted, the sports desk and books section eliminated and local news restructured. Some staff aptly referred to it as a “bloodbath.” This follows voluntary buyouts in 2023-4 that reduced the staff by over 20 percent, costing the paper some of its best people.

Bezos paid $250 million for the paper in 2013, promising great things. He was introducing “a new golden era for The Washington Post.” Recently he claimed “The advantage I bring to The Post is when they need financial resources, I’m available. …. I’m the doting parent in that regard.”

In the beginning he was a doting parent. He appeared to take pride in his acquisition, praising it with adjectives from “swashbuckling” to “special.” And for a while it prospered but eventually, following a number of questionable business decisions, including hiring a publisher and CEO with a checkered past in British journalism with the Murdoch empire.

More recently, Bezos has joined other tech billionaires in the appeasement of Donald Trump. His company Amazon Web Services has contracts worth billions with the U.S. government and he knows that with Trump you have to pay your dues.

In 2024 he followed up killing an endorsement of Kamala Harris with emasculation of the paper’s editorial policies. This alone cost The Post over 250,000 subscribers. Editorials increasingly fawn over Trump. Bezos lined up like a dutiful soldier alongside his tech bros behind Trump at his inauguration. He committed $40 million to make a documentary about the life of Melania Trump and then another $35 million to promote it. More recently he said not a word about an F.B.I. raid on the home of a Post federal-government reporter, in which her phones, laptops, and other devices were seized.

The owner who once said “The paper’s duty will remain to its readers and not to the private interests of its owners,” has proved to be a liar. The man who built Amazon is tearing down the house built by legends of journalism such as Katherine Graham, Ben Bradlee and Bob Woodward. The latter action will I suspect make a more lasting memorial than the former.

The Post, even being the money-loser that it has become, should have no financial problems. The “doting parent” is now estimated to have a net worth of $250 billion. A minuscule fraction of that could sustain the paper indefinitely.

As one venerable newspaper crumbles, another prospers. The New York Times has reported revenues up over 10 percent from last year for another profitable quarter. The board of directors announced a dividend, also up from the previous quarter. Its success lies mainly in its online product (to which I subscribe) with digital now making up three-quarters of its subscription revenue. The paper now has 12.78 million total subscribers, aiming for 15 million by the end of 2027.

Part of The Times success is just good management. It has, for instance, transformed itself into a one-stop-shopping environment, luring readers with games, a cooking app and a shopping guide. And it has adapted superbly to the digital age. But its commitment to good journalism with comprehensive news coverage and a variety of views excellently written makes it hard to resist. Integrity and quality matter.

In this country that means the CBC. And yet, in this age of rampant misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories, one of our major political parties would like to defund it. Pierre Poilievre and friends would no doubt be happy to leave us at the mercy of MAGA-friendly oligarchs such as Bezos and Postmedia Network, the owners of most of Canada’s daily papers.