Is Jeff Bezos Selling Out the Washington Post?

In March, during the second Trump Administration, a gathering was held in the Terrace Theatre at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Billionaire C.E.O. of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett, hosted a screening party for a new documentary celebrating the career of Katharine Graham, the legendary publisher of the Washington Post. Among the guests were Bill Gates, Bill Murray, former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Democratic senator Amy Klobuchar, and Bob Woodward, who, along with Carl Bernstein, broke the stories of Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal that defined the paper’s golden age.

The Watergate Hotel was passed on the way to the party, situated next to the Kennedy Center on the bank of the Potomac River. Both buildings, cream-colored behemoths, were completed in the early nineteen-seventies, a time in the capital when Presidents feared journalists and the bipartisan elite dined together on lobster bisque and gossip. Katharine Graham, a quiet, wry, and patrician figure, was one of the most powerful women in America during that era. She not only managed the Post’s business operations, following in the footsteps of her father, Eugene Meyer, and her husband, Phil Graham, but also gathered members of the Washington establishment around her dinner table in Georgetown, known as “tiny kingdom” by Phil Graham.

In a recent move, Donald Trump took over the Kennedy Center, naming himself its chair, thereby ending the longstanding bipartisan spirit that was a hallmark of one of D.C.’s most beloved cultural institutions. The center canceled a performance by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C., and expressed interest in booking “Cats.” Just before the lights dimmed at the screening, Katharine Graham’s son, Don, attired in a sports coat and New Balance sneakers, stepped up to the lectern. He shared that his mother “had to stand up to one President who had carried forty-nine states, and who truly, as you are about to see, wanted to use the government to destroy her newspaper and her company.”

Aside from the historical references to Nixon’s Watergate scandal, Don Graham also alluded to more recent events. He succeeded his mother as the Post’s publisher, overseeing the business side for three decades until it was acquired in 2013 by Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos. Just before the 2016 Presidential election, Bezos criticized Trump’s behavior, stating that it eroded democracy. However, in the lead-up to the 2024 election, Bezos prevented the Post from endorsing a Presidential candidate, breaking from the paper’s tradition. He attended Trump’s Inauguration, to which his company donated a million dollars. Days before the screening at the Kennedy Center, Bezos announced a significant change at the paper, stating that the Opinions section would feature articles supporting personal liberties and free markets, leaving opposing viewpoints to be published elsewhere.

In the days of Woodward and Bernstein, the Post’s mission appeared clear: to hold the nation’s most powerful officials accountable. However, the paper’s journalists were shaken by what some perceived as Bezos’s submission to Trump and a broader identity crisis at the paper. Many staff members left for other opportunities. In January, former executive editor Leonard Downie, Jr., and former managing editor Robert Kaiser wrote in an email to Bezos, stating that morale at the Post was at an all-time low. Bezos never responded.

After the screening, guests gathered at a reception in a large gallery, where Woodward engaged in a confrontation with Bill Murray. The actor had recently expressed dismay on a podcast about Woodward’s book “Wired,” causing tension. At the reception, Woodward interjected into a conversation Murray was having with Klobuchar to defend his work. The encounter was quickly diffused by Buffett’s publicist. Following the event, attendees described the reception, featuring hot appetizers, white orchids, and a room full of septuagenarians, as a tribute to the Graham family’s Post.

Notably absent from the event was the Post’s current leadership. Will Lewis, a former executive at Rupert Murdoch’s Dow Jones, who was appointed as the paper’s publisher in early 2024, had initially confirmed his attendance but later requested the guest list. Lewis denies the claim. The Post’s editor, Matt Murray, a recent addition from the Wall Street Journal, also remained absent. Bezos was out of town, choosing to attend the Academy Awards with his journalist fiancée, Lauren Sánchez.

Bezos, who had maintained a somewhat distant ownership style, oversees various businesses under Amazon’s umbrella, including Whole Foods, Zappos, the streaming site Twitch, and M-G-M Studios. Blue Origin, Bezos’s aerospace company, competes directly with Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the privatization of space travel. Former employees describe Bezos as providing direction but often leaving others to pick up the pieces. While Bezos’s vision for the Post remains uncertain, his intellectual journey continues to shape the institution, with significant implications.

Graham and Bezos met at the Sun Valley Conference in Idaho, an annual retreat known as a “summer camp for billionaires,” to discuss a potential sale. Bezos was made aware of the challenges of owning a newspaper, including potential conflicts of interest and the likelihood of reporters covering him. Bezos’s interest in the Post was seen as a redemption of sorts, considering his business dealings and the controversies surrounding Amazon.

Ultimately, Bezos purchased the Post for two hundred and fifty million dollars, a decision that raised eyebrows among Post staff and media observers. The move marked a shift in the direction of the paper, as Bezos sought to balance business interests with journalistic integrity. Despite challenges and internal turmoil, the Post continues to adapt under Bezos’s ownership, navigating a rapidly changing media landscape and complex political environment.