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Caving to Authoritarianism : WaPo Doesn't Endorse

Discussion in 'Too Hot for Swamp Gas' started by gator_jo, Oct 25, 2024.

  1. GatorBen

    GatorBen Premium Member

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    That’s cute. Let’s just say I treat most media, both expressly political and supposedly “legitimate,” with a very large grain of salt.

    Not from right-wing media saturation, but from having been close enough to a number of political or semi-political things that get reported on by the “legitimate media” to recognize how little resemblance what gets reported sometimes bears to what is actually happening.
     
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  2. citygator

    citygator VIP Member

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    I canceled my subscription to the WaPo. Sorry to the journalists. I actually gave Bezos credit in the past for buying an American Institution of WaPo and staying out of it. I thought it was somewhat of a charitable venture for him to support free speech. I am not interested in reading news approved by Bezos though. Sorry WaPo.
     
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  3. gator_jo

    gator_jo GC Hall of Fame

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    Same.
     
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  4. citygator

    citygator VIP Member

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  5. ATLGATORFAN

    ATLGATORFAN Premium Member

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    Bro tip/ pro tip. When you snuggle up with your stuffed unicorn for your
    Favorite episodes of housewives or greys anatomy and realize all the commercials are for massengill and urinary tract infections…..it’s because you aren’t the target audience. But hey. Be proud and you be you man.
     
    Last edited: Oct 28, 2024
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  6. citygator

    citygator VIP Member

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    No one should be the target audience for that. If you can watch that and walk away a proud American, you arent.
     
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  7. oragator1

    oragator1 Hurricane Hunter Premium Member

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  8. exiledgator

    exiledgator Gruntled

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    Just reading this thread now.

    Can you send me some lottery numbers when you get a chance?
     
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  9. Tjgators

    Tjgators Premium Member

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    Kamala is just that bad a candidate.
    Signed,
    The LA Times.
     
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  10. ursidman

    ursidman VIP Member

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    Another was me
     
  11. gator_lawyer

    gator_lawyer VIP Member

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    LOL. Swing and a miss. The LA Times staff tried to endorse Kamala. It was the Trump supporter billionaire owner who blocked it.
     
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  12. citygator

    citygator VIP Member

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    Ugh. I really feel bad for canceling mine. There are really good reporters who will suffer. Bezos wont give a shit - at least I dont think he will.
     
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  13. ursidman

    ursidman VIP Member

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    I paid $125/yr (i think) for my subscription so that is ~ $25 million in lost revenue so far.

    Trying to get my wife to stop shopping on Amazon at least till after the election. She says if so she’s going to hold out on me till then. We’re negotiating.
     
  14. citygator

    citygator VIP Member

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    $96 here for digital. Were you getting the actual paper or digital?
     
  15. ursidman

    ursidman VIP Member

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    Digital only
     
  16. danmanne65

    danmanne65 GC Hall of Fame

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    This is it. Amazon had a 10 billion dollar cloud computing contract when trump was president and trump threatened to cancel it if the paper kept being critical of him. Blue origins has a multibillion dollar contract also. Musk and bezos both do massive amounts of business with the government.
     
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  17. gator_jo

    gator_jo GC Hall of Fame

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    Yeah, I feel bad for cancelling my sub too.

    Additionally, this math is interesting. If they lose $25 million per year in subscription income, they'll claw some of that back in cost reductions. But no matter what, it will be peanuts compared to what the felon Trump could have done to Bezos' other businesses.

    I'm not sure what the answer is, but this is a real shitty calculus when it's exceedingly possible that Bezos actually knew this loss of subscribers might happen and decided that, from a financial perspective, he had to take this course anyways.
     
  18. VAg8r1

    VAg8r1 GC Hall of Fame

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  19. oragator1

    oragator1 Hurricane Hunter Premium Member

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    I think the hope would be that Bezos realizes it’s a bad investment for him on several levels and sells it to someone who cares about what it’s supposed to be as a paper, not just another ego boost for him like blue origin.
     
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  20. GatorBen

    GatorBen Premium Member

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    I suspect a bunch (maybe most) of the subscribers are at a far, far lower rate than that.

    It’s been years since I’ve had an active WaPo subscription, but I think my current NYT digital-only subscription is on something like a $4/month promotional rate, and I don’t recall my WaPo subscription having been much more than that (plus the credit card cash back offer for spending at least $25 with them).

    Edit: somewhat ironically, I dropped my WaPo subscription for sort of the flip side of the same reason - I thought their political reporting was getting too tabloid-y.
     
    Last edited: Oct 28, 2024