# Resubscribing to the Washington Post **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [September 11, 2025, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resubscribing-to-the-washington-post/1022946 "2025-09-11T14:29:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2025, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resubscribing-to-the-washington-post/1022946/21 "2025-09-12T03:21:43Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > You use that term as if you think that means the actual EDITORS have independence or that the term generally refers to the editors of a paper. No, it refers to the PUBLISHERS, not the editors. It means the editorial board in general, and the Editor-In-Chief and managing editors have broad discretion from the publisher on what stories are printed and how they are presented. When he bought the _Washington Post_ Jeff Bezos pledged to support editorial independence. But about a year prior to the election he brought in William Lewis as Publisher and CEO despite a history of not supporting his editorial staff on decisions, and then plainly directed him to not publish the endorsement drafted the editorial board (which it has been doing since 1976, post-Nixon) immediately after Trump campaign officials visited Blue Origin executives. You may not agree with newspaper endorsements but this was not a case of the publisher deciding to align with some kind of journalistic principles; it was clearly an owner telling the publisher to kill an endorsement in order to curry favor with an autocratically-inclined candidate who threatened his pet space launch company. > [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > _The Washington Post_ has not in general liked Trump’s cabinet secretaries and agency heads _The Washington Post_ published [a list of Trump’s Cabinet and agency head picks](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/interactive/2025/trump-nominees-confirmation-hearings-editorial-board/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzM2NjU4MDAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzM4MDQwMzk5LCJpYXQiOjE3MzY2NTgwMDAsImp0aSI6ImYxZGYzZDBhLWFhNzAtNGYwMC1iZjIwLWJlYWEwM2I0MmY2ZSIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9vcGluaW9ucy9pbnRlcmFjdGl2ZS8yMDI1L3RydW1wLW5vbWluZWVzLWNvbmZpcm1hdGlvbi1oZWFyaW5ncy1lZGl0b3JpYWwtYm9hcmQvIn0.3M-KvOvE4__BErz9p7Xn2wDP_ethGufOXIJdHru8HOM&itid=gfta) with a ‘thumbs up/down’ recommendation with only four negatives despite how unqualified most of his nominees were. While it had provided such a list for previously administrations at least going back to the Clinton era, it never offered a yes/no evaluation, Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2025, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resubscribing-to-the-washington-post/1022946/22 "2025-09-12T08:58:17Z")
Another thing that _The Washington Post_ does well is that it has articles about the political situations in other countries. Some people think that understanding the politics of the U.S. is sufficient to be informed about the world. It’s not. Notice that the article listing the cabinet and its ratings is in the opinion section. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2025, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resubscribing-to-the-washington-post/1022946/23 "2025-09-12T09:01:12Z")
That the WaPo does some things well isn’t nearly good enough to re-earn my money - their owner and editor have made clear that they are ready and willing to nix anything their reporters do that they find distasteful or inappropriate. As long as that hangs over the heads of every reporter who hasn’t already quit, they’re going to make different decisions than they would if they felt free to report wherever the truth leads them. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2025, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resubscribing-to-the-washington-post/1022946/24 "2025-09-12T10:19:58Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > distasteful or inappropriate Can you give me a list of the things that they considered distasteful or inappropriate in the news articles that they nixed? The things in the opinion section or the letters to the editor don’t count. Have any of you actually read _The Washington Post_ regularly in the past few years? I read it every day (and, yes, I read a paper and ink version, not an online one). ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2025, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resubscribing-to-the-washington-post/1022946/25 "2025-09-12T10:42:04Z")
Okay, here’s a summary of a big part of the changes: > **[The exodus from the Washington Post.](https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/exodus-washington-post-wapo-storied-paper-dying-jeff-bezos-donald-trump.php)** > > Is the storied paper dying? I’m not willing to give money to support this type of ethical corruption in these times. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2025, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resubscribing-to-the-washington-post/1022946/26 "2025-09-12T11:57:27Z")
Thanks for the article. It’s very interesting, and after reading it, i might resubscribe. That article talks about an exodus of good journalists. It takes about Bezos driving away the editorial staff. It also says that he hasn’t interfered with the news side, and that if he had, we’d know. And that while the obit department was gutted by staffers who took a big downsizing buyout, there are still lots of good journalists there. For the parts I’m interested in, it says: There are fewer top journalists, and the fact-checking team has been weakened by departures. But Bezos has not interfered with the news side of the paper, and there are still good people there. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2025, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resubscribing-to-the-washington-post/1022946/27 "2025-09-12T12:08:08Z")
That’s your prerogative, but with morally corrupt people in charge of the paper as they are, everything could change in an instant. And subtle pressure may very well be taking place at a level that’s very hard to see. And remember that it’s those morally corrupt people in charge who benefit most from your subscription. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2025, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resubscribing-to-the-washington-post/1022946/28 "2025-09-12T12:39:00Z")
The price of the subscription is too small to by more than symbolic. Really, my question is about reading the articles. Will i find them misleading, or useless? And the symbolism of my subscription helps the people who work there, not just the owner. Yes, i know the editorial side is crap. I never read the editorial side, and that’s not actually very important to me. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2025, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resubscribing-to-the-washington-post/1022946/29 "2025-09-12T14:24:41Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > But Bezos has not interfered with the news side of the paper, and there are still good people there. Yet. When Bezos purchased the paper he vowed not to interfere in any aspect of its operation on principled grounds, stating that he wanted to help assure the journalistic integrity of the historic publication. When editorial independence became inconvenient, he ordered William Lewis to arbitrarily change the policy toward endorsements, and at the same time Lewis purportedly started making editorial decisions without consulting the editorial board, a reversal of policy under the previous publisher, Fred Ryan. Now, Bezos has consistently lost money on the paper, and at the subscription cost today readers are only marginally offsetting that, so it isn’t really that by subscribing you’d be putting money in Bezos pocket. The _Post_ still has many fine journalists and does excellent investigative journalism, and as noted above is one of the few remaining American papers with any international focus. But it has lost a lot of credibility, not just because of the pulled endorsement but for long time staff fleeing with complaints about editorial overreach. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resubscribing-to-the-washington-post/1022946/30 "2025-09-13T13:42:13Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > those morally corrupt people in charge who benefit most from your subscription Bezos doesn’t benefit from the subscription money at all since he has decided that the paper will not make a profit and in fact will lose money. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resubscribing-to-the-washington-post/1022946/31 "2025-09-13T14:48:30Z")
Wouldn’t he in fact benefit by losing _less_ money than he would have otherwise? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resubscribing-to-the-washington-post/1022946/32 "2025-09-13T15:01:47Z")
I was going to say just that. But the amount of money, $20 for a year’s subscription, is inconsequential to me, and surely to Bezos, too. The important question is whether i can still trust their news reporting. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resubscribing-to-the-washington-post/1022946/33 "2025-09-13T15:25:05Z")
IMO, at present, any organization that reports the news has a moral responsibility to fight against the rise of fascism. IMO the WaPo is failing in this responsibility - even when reporting facts, they routinely frame them in the best possible way for Trump, and regularly assume good faith for Trump’s words and actions, rather than frame them in the context of the MAGA push for authoritarianism and fascism. Talking Points Memo, as a positive contrast example, never fails in this regard. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resubscribing-to-the-washington-post/1022946/34 "2025-09-13T15:43:17Z")
A chunk of the news i want to follow is science and medicine. And while sure, you should run a couple of stories about how the administration is gutting research and improving an ideological purity test on “science”, mostly that belongs in other parts of the paper, and you want to report on the latest study. Or follow the hurricane heading towards you, or… I took a look at “talk points memo”. As its name suggests, it’s 100% politics. And it’s mostly opinion, and light on actual reporting, as best as i can tell from a quick look. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resubscribing-to-the-washington-post/1022946/35 "2025-09-13T16:21:30Z")
TPM is a mix of both - they do regularly break stories, but it’s a small operation. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resubscribing-to-the-washington-post/1022946/36 "2025-09-13T17:53:11Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Talking Points Memo, as a positive contrast example, never fails in this regard. Does TPM have an arts department? A sports department? I need those in a newspaper. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resubscribing-to-the-washington-post/1022946/37 "2025-09-13T18:11:19Z")
I hope the name is meant ironically? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resubscribing-to-the-washington-post/1022946/38 "2025-09-13T18:52:09Z")
It’s just for politics. There are plenty of other options for sports, arts, etc., that aren’t rewarding kowtowing to fascism; YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resubscribing-to-the-washington-post/1022946/39 "2025-09-14T00:13:54Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > $20 for a year’s subscription It costs $69 to read it online for the first twelve weeks. I live ten miles from the center of Washington, D.C. It costs $144 for the first twelve months to have it delivered to your door to where I live. Bezos loses something like $77,000,000 each year on _The Washington Post_. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resubscribing-to-the-washington-post/1022946/40 "2025-09-14T00:16:31Z")
Eh, perhaps because i am a prior subscriber, i get regular specials. The two most common are $20 for the first year (online access) , increasing to $120 after a year, and $3) month, for some number of months. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resubscribing-to-the-washington-post/1022946.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resubscribing-to-the-washington-post/1022946.md?page=3)