{"id":46550,"date":"2026-02-05T12:31:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T20:31:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=46550"},"modified":"2026-02-05T12:32:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T20:32:00","slug":"this-is-a-wake-up-call-critics-disgusted-as-billionaire-bezos-guts-washington-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/02\/05\/this-is-a-wake-up-call-critics-disgusted-as-billionaire-bezos-guts-washington-post\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018This Is a Wake-Up Call\u2019: Critics Disgusted as Billionaire Bezos Guts Washington Post"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Jeff<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos delivers remarks during the opening ceremony of the media company\u2019s new location January 28, 2016 in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOligarchs are not the benevolent saviors media have long depicted them to be.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feb 04, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Washington Post<\/a><\/em> announced massive cuts to its newsroom staff on Wednesday, unleashing a wave of disgust directed toward its owner, billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As reported<\/a> by Semafor<\/em> reporter Maxwell Tani, Washington<\/a> Post<\/em> executive editor Matt Murray told<\/a> staffers at the paper that it would be closing its sports department \u201cin its current form,\u201d and would also be \u201ckilling its book section, suspending its Post Reports podcast, restructuring its metro section, and shrinking its international footprint.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bernie<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Democracy Dies in Oligarchy,\u2019 Says Sanders of Mass Layoffs at Washington Post<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Jeff<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Seeking Pentagon Contracts, Bezos Rolls Out Red Carpet After Dropping $40 Million on \u2018Melania\u2019<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With hundreds of journalists expected to lose their jobs, Murray told Post<\/em> employees that the cuts were needed to help the paper \u201cbecome more essential to people\u2019s lives\u201d in \u201cwhat is becoming a more crowded, competitive and complicated media landscape, and after some years when, candidly, the Post<\/em> has had struggles to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many critics, however, scoffed at claims that cuts at the paper were needed to make it profitable, suggesting the real motivation came from Bezos\u2019 desire to take an ax to the US free press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brian Phillips, senior writer at The Ringer<\/em>, rejected the notion that one of the richest men in the world couldn\u2019t afford to keep what was once a revered newspaper fully staffed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBezos isn\u2019t destroying the Washington Post <\/em>because it isn\u2019t profitable,\u201d he wrote<\/a> in a social media<\/a> post. \u201cHe\u2019s destroying the Washington Post<\/em> because he\u2019s calculated that a robust free press threatens the ability of his class to warp society around their interests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phillips also implored other journalists to not report on the Post<\/em> layoffs as \u201ca straightforward business story,\u201d but rather \u201ca story about coercive social transformation being imposed by people so rich they\u2019ve ceased to see the rest of us as legitimate stakeholders in our own lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Sirota, founder of The Lever<\/em>, said the layoffs should end journalists\u2019 fantasies that billionaire owners will rescue journalism<\/a> in an era of mass consolidation by corporate conglomerates, slashed newsroom budgets, and wave after wave of layoffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe media world\u2019s stunned\/shocked reaction to the awful WaPo<\/em> layoffs shows that even now, so many in journalism still can\u2019t believe billionaires aren\u2019t going to rescue them,\u201d he wrote<\/a>. \u201cThis is a wake-up call: Oligarchs are not the benevolent saviors media have long depicted them to be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adam Serwer of the Atlantic<\/em> also raised concerns about the power of wealthy oligarchs to buy and destroy historic media institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI personally do not think some rich man should be able to buy an institution like this like a toy and then break it when he doesn\u2019t want to play with it anymore,\u201d he wrote<\/a>. \u201cBezos fucked the paper and instead of fixing it he\u2019s destroying it despite the fact that he could spend the money to make things right without even noticing its absence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jonathan Cohn, political director for Progressive Mass, noted that the Post<\/em> isn\u2019t the only media organization that\u2019s being gutted by a billionaire owner, referencing billionaire Larry Ellison, a major donor to President Donald Trump<\/a>, who recently acquired CBS News<\/em> alongside other media properties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we are seeing with WaPo<\/em> and with CBS News <\/em>is that the mega-rich see real financial value for themselves in destroying journalism,\u201d he wrote. \u201cLet that sink in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Bernie Sanders<\/a> (I-Vt.), in a post written before the Post<\/em> layoffs were announced, drew attention to billionaire control over not just traditional media, but social media as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we talk about\u00a0authoritarianism<\/a>, it\u2019s not just\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0Sanders. \u201c[Elon] Musk owns X. Bezos owns Twitch. [Mark] Zuckerberg owns Instagram and Facebook. Larry Ellison controls TikTok. Billionaires increasingly control what we see, hear and read.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos delivers remarks during the opening ceremony of the media company\u2019s new location January 28, 2016 in Washington, DC. \u00a0(Photo by Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images) \u201cOligarchs are not the benevolent saviors media have long depicted them to be.\u201d Brad Reed Feb 04, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46550"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46550"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46551,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46550\/revisions\/46551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}