https://www.reuters.com/business/me...ger-acquire-news-website-politico-2021-08-26/ Aug 26 (Reuters) - Axel Springer will acquire Politico in a deal that valued the U.S political news website at over $1 billion, according to a source familiar with the matter. The real thread is how WaPo was sold to Bezos for 250 million eight years ago. At that time "print was dead". Supposedly it took him 3 years to turn around the company and make a profit. Seems like a bargain and even the debt he took on doesn't seem crippling anymore. How fast did that narrative shift with now "content is king" even as networks like ESPN are money pits or newspaper outlets continue to consolidate. Is this a moneyball vs traditional GM thing? Or maybe the world is rapidly changing to the point it's becoming harder to pin what true value is.
Axel Springer is the German Rupert Murdoch. Politico has been gradually shedding objectivity over the last few years, but under Springer it will be nothing but another propagandizing Psy-Op. I was involved in a discussion last night about Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, Frank Reynolds and their contemporaries when news writers, reporters, and broadcasters held in their hearts the responsibility to the public and the nation for objective reporting of the facts so that people could make informed, civically conscientious decisions. We have allowed too much of reporting to become entertainment and/or advancing of agendas. If we are to preserve our republic, we must find a way to restore commitment to facts, objectivity, and responsibility in the dissemination of news.
That "Golden Age" period from the 40s-80s is a relatively short blip when compared to the muckraking and newspaper baron eras before and after it. That article even pointed out that it was "balanced journalism" for the majority rather than for everyone else. There's been posts about this topic which I'm up for derailing if the main discussion dies out. I do think people of all classes are willing to pay a premium for responsible fact based news. Even if you question Bezos's true intention of "saving" wapo, there was the case where another billionaire pledged a quarter billion to fund The Intercept, once considered an All Star collection of award winning journalists (mainly known for breaking the Snowden Leak). It was later forced to cut back due to largesse and their founding divas bickering against each other. I still read the Intercept occasionally, but maybe I have filter for preachiness since I like to take part in it myself. So as much as I want to blame "large media families" for our current state of WWE News Entertainment, it's more on us consuming and valuing that kind of news (or comedy shows) over the hard hitting no-good-answers brand of responsible journalism.
Yep. We want to give up our attention and clicks as much as they want to provide a service. News media is pretty awful right now because we prefer being entertained over informed.
