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by EwanG·6y ago·view on hn ↗
Do we think this is THAT much different from the Washington Post (owned by Jeff Bezos), Time Magazine and related (owned by Marc Benioff), etc? I mean, is there any major news outlet (short of possibly PBS) where we shouldn't assume some level of benign (or not so benign) influence from the money making side?
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Qualitatively different? Probably not. Quantitatively? Yes, I think so. Bezos fooling with the Post's news-covering editorial activities would be a major scandal that would likely end with him having a very bad reputation and possibly start with a large number of the Post's journalists publicly taking a walk. But Bloomberg doesn't have that kind of integrity or reputation to maintain; this story is just another day at the office.

That doesn't mean Bezos does not have influence, nor that he won't, hasn't, or isn't exercising it inappropriately. But what Bloomberg did is discussed to great lengths in Journalism 101. That's hard to keep quiet.