Bezos buys Washington Post. Really.

[QuantumIguana]

Originally Posted by Canuck_in_Japan

Did he get free shipping?

Free second-day shipping for the newspaper doesn't seem nearly as good as it does with packages.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Me thinks we will se a walled garden, I don't think there is any other way to make money from news these days.

The Washington Post set up a paywall two months ago.
If there are other ways to monetize good journalistic content, Bezos is a good candidate to figure it out.
Regardless of his plans, the paper won't be living paycheck to paycheck, metaphorically spreaking.

Lots of interesting commentary floating around. I liked this one:
http://pandodaily.com/2013/08/05/jef...or-horrifying/

There are few people who think longer-term than Bezos. If he has a plan, it won’t be a quick fix or a Band-Aid. And long term thinking is a luxury the Post didn’t have before this deal.

[manfred63]

That's an interesting development. Maybe Bezos sees this as some sort of development assistance in the digital age. I'm looking forward to what's going to happen with the WP in the next months.

Since the NYT has several paywalls already I don't think that's going to happen with the WP on a long term. But journalism is expensive, I'm really curious how Bezos is going to seduce the readers to pay for quality.

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I get all my news from MNN

I prefer NN myself

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by manfred63

But journalism is expensive, I'm really curious how Bezos is going to seduce the readers to pay for quality.

When a company needs more revenue, they can do one of two things:

- Squeeze more money out of each customer transaction, usually by raising prices
- Increase the number of customer transactions, usually by getting more customers and/or products

Bezos seems to favor the latter approach.
Right off the top of my head, I'm thinking a WP News (streaming) channel is an option.

[manfred63]

There are several news stations already, aren't there? WP is not just news, it's quality journalism in sports, culture, politics, foreign affairs, books, theatre, and so forth.

Every monkey can copy & paste some news and stream this stuff on YouTube. That's nothing people care about that are interested in reading stuff from WP, I think. I could be wrong of course. We'll see.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by manfred63

There are several news stations already, aren't there?

Yes.
But they generally breakdown among political lines: Fox to the right, everybody else to the left (to one degree or another) and nothing in the true center. There is ample room for an alternative national news operation where everything isn't cast in political or economic terms.

When I lived in the area the WP did a good job of covering the full spectrum without carrying water for either side. Applying that approach to online news as a form of counterprogramming might bring in people fed-up with the coverage from the current camps.

[fjtorres]

Check this to see a different side of Bezos:
http://longnow.org/clock/

In addition to putting *his* money into building rockets and a spaceport, and into salvaging the long lost Apollo 11 rocket, he also invests in things like:

There is a Clock ringing deep inside a mountain.
It is a huge Clock, hundreds of feet tall, designed to tick for 10,000 years. Every once in a while the bells of this buried Clock play a melody. Each time the chimes ring, it’s a melody the Clock has never played before. The Clock’s chimes have been programmed to not repeat themselves for 10,000 years.
Most times the Clock rings when a visitor has wound it, but the Clock hoards energy from a different source and occasionally it will ring itself when no one is around to hear it. It’s anyone’s guess how many beautiful songs will never be heard over the Clock’s 10 millennial lifespan.

The guy is...odd...and interesting.

Not many folks like that around.

[teh603]

Honestly, I kinda like this. Means one news agency that isn't going to be part of the Newscorp/Murdoch reference circle.

[speakingtohe]

Free kindle newsreader with every subscription?

Helen

[Indio777]

Originally Posted by manfred63

WP is not just news, it's quality journalism in sports, culture, politics, foreign affairs, books, theatre, and so forth.

The Post still comes up with good stories and is still one of the major papers in the US, but I think it has declined over the years, beginning with a series of staff buyouts that began about 10 years ago. A lot of good people have left and not all of the replacements have been as good (in my opinion). For me, ending the standalone Book World section in the Sunday print edition several years ago was especially disappointing and a symbol of the problems the organization was having.

Over the years more "fluff" has crept in, although I think that has happened to most all newspapers, at least those in the US.

In any event, it will be interesting to see what happens. Of course there is currently a lot speculation in DC right now about what exactly this "means" in terms of possible changes.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

Free kindle newsreader with every subscription?

Helen

More likely, the other way around: a month free WP subscription with every Kindle.

Oh, and the streaming news channel idea? They're not streaming 24x7 but the WP *does* have a video content operation:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/

Plus, it has the contacts to feed current affairs books into Amazon Publishing.

Bezos doesn't need to change the WP to improve its finances.
The Grahams weren't dumping a basket case on him; he bought a vaaluable asset as it is that he can support/monetize in style.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by Indio777

The Post still comes up with good stories and is still one of the major papers in the US, but I think it has declined over the years, beginning with a series of staff buyouts that began about 10 years ago. A lot of good people have left and not all of the replacements have been as good (in my opinion). For me, ending the standalone Book World section in the Sunday print edition several years ago was especially disappointing and a symbol of the problems the organization was having.

Over the years more "fluff" has crept in, although I think that has happened to most all newspapers, at least those in the US.

In any event, it will be interesting to see what happens. Of course there is currently a lot speculation in DC right now about what exactly this "means" in terms of possible changes.

All papers and many magazines are diminishing. The people don't want to pay for what they can get for free.
Only the specialty magazines will survive.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I get all my news from MNN

You Devil Monkey, YOU!

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by mbovenka

I prefer NN myself

I wonder if there's a NMN

Originally Posted by frahse

You Devil Monkey, YOU!