Alex: As a former working journalist (newspaper, radio and TV) I can assure you that cancelling subscriptions does not hurt Jeff Bezos. But it hurts his employees and that’s why I don’t think cancelling a subscription is worthwhile. Perhaps if people would consider leaving Amazon Prime and shopping local, that would have more of an impact on Bezos’s wallet. That he and the LA Times guy obeyed in advance is a terrible sign. We need to make sure that Kamala is elected.
I agree with you that boycotting Amazon is a good idea, boycotting the Post is a bad one. It would be like a double slap in the face of a group that puts out some outstanding journalism and would deprive those who cancel their subscriptions from benefiting from their work.
The title of my piece is in the form of a question because such an endorsement might actually be counterproductive politically for Harris if it caused an “anti-press backlash” that Trump could manipulate to his advantage – and the staff at the Post would be putting their careers on the line.
Such an endorsement by the Post staff would primarily be a defense of the First Amendment more than an endorsement of Harris.
SOMETHING needs to be done to wake up the citizenry (voters) to how dangerous Trump's assault on the media is.
Other institutions (even the military) have broken precedent within the ethics of their own professions and made comments about Trump or the election – but the press has been reluctant to do it out of an ethic of “journalistic objectivity” (and in some cases “corporate self-interest” that is placed above the national interest).
We all need to do whatever we can to raise the level of our political discourse while still making absolutely clear distinctions between what is right and wrong.
I was hoping to get some feedback from professional journalists to this post and to the article “Which Will Prevail: Trumpism or a Free Press” linked within it which argues that the press should have (and could still?) take a much more aggressive stand against Trump’s attacks on the media and Constitution. I would appreciate your thoughts on this, as well as those from anyone else who comes across this thread (especially if you have experience as a professional journalist that might add to our understanding of these issues).
Alex: As a former working journalist (newspaper, radio and TV) I can assure you that cancelling subscriptions does not hurt Jeff Bezos. But it hurts his employees and that’s why I don’t think cancelling a subscription is worthwhile. Perhaps if people would consider leaving Amazon Prime and shopping local, that would have more of an impact on Bezos’s wallet. That he and the LA Times guy obeyed in advance is a terrible sign. We need to make sure that Kamala is elected.
Thanks for your response, Jim.
I agree with you that boycotting Amazon is a good idea, boycotting the Post is a bad one. It would be like a double slap in the face of a group that puts out some outstanding journalism and would deprive those who cancel their subscriptions from benefiting from their work.
The title of my piece is in the form of a question because such an endorsement might actually be counterproductive politically for Harris if it caused an “anti-press backlash” that Trump could manipulate to his advantage – and the staff at the Post would be putting their careers on the line.
Such an endorsement by the Post staff would primarily be a defense of the First Amendment more than an endorsement of Harris.
SOMETHING needs to be done to wake up the citizenry (voters) to how dangerous Trump's assault on the media is.
Other institutions (even the military) have broken precedent within the ethics of their own professions and made comments about Trump or the election – but the press has been reluctant to do it out of an ethic of “journalistic objectivity” (and in some cases “corporate self-interest” that is placed above the national interest).
We all need to do whatever we can to raise the level of our political discourse while still making absolutely clear distinctions between what is right and wrong.
I was hoping to get some feedback from professional journalists to this post and to the article “Which Will Prevail: Trumpism or a Free Press” linked within it which argues that the press should have (and could still?) take a much more aggressive stand against Trump’s attacks on the media and Constitution. I would appreciate your thoughts on this, as well as those from anyone else who comes across this thread (especially if you have experience as a professional journalist that might add to our understanding of these issues).