Ken Doctor wrote an article the other week about Jeff Bezos' purchase of The Washington Post and how he plans to give the newspaper a "runway." It's an interesting piece that I suggest you read.
But there's one thing that I can't get off my mind after reading it: are newspapers destined to be bought and nurtured by millionaires and billionaires until the news industry recovers from the shift to the digital age? That what it seems like.
At first this made me sad and rather depressed. Has the news industry fallen so far that it needs to be bought out of its trouble? Something about that just sounds awful.
But at the same time, these corporate powerhouses have the two things that the news industry needs: money and faith. Doctor says in his article that Bezos' investment in The Washington Post is both expensive and long-term. Nobody, not even millionaires, would make such a large investment if they didn't have faith in the news industry. Journalists may have to rely on others to help their profession recover, but if it works in the long then I guess it can't be that bad.
No comments:
Post a Comment