A few thoughts about the increasingly numerous instances of news media organizations “bending the knee” to President-Elect Trump with donations and policy changes:
First, did you expect anything different from the billionaire media moguls, especially in light of how they all have other businesses that are dependent on federal grants or tax breaks? Yes, Jeff Bezos saved The Washington Post and Patrick Soon-Shiong rescued The Los Angeles Times, but they are neither news people nor hands-off businessmen. If Trump threatens them, they have a large financial interest in trying to curry favor with him. It was a matter of time until “I won’t interfere with editorial decisions” would become “do as I say,” whether explicit or assumed by management trying to head off trouble before it happens (which just creates more trouble).
Bezos, for one, had allowed criticism of Amazon in the Post, but being depicted offering bags of money to Trump in an editorial cartoon was too much truth for him, or his editors wanted to protect him from that. Soon-Shiong went further, suddenly insisting on injecting pro-Trump content (Scott Jennings? Seriously?) and AI-powered “balance” in the Times. In each case, the assumption is that the guy who writes the checks gets to dictate what goes in the paper.
And they do if there are no walls between the owner’s office, sales, and the newsroom. I’ve seen plenty of people on social media take the position that the cartoonist (Ann Telnaes, one of the very best) should have known that criticizing the boss would not be tolerated, but if the boss is in the news, how can you ignore that? Telnaes, for her part, makes her case in a Substack post explaining why the spiking of that cartoon was enough to quit the paper, even in an era where there are practically no editorial cartoonist jobs left.
There are two issues here: capitulating to a hostile administration in advance, and interference with the editorial process. The former isn’t limited to the media; any company or investor who values their own wealth over everything else will try to curry favor with whoever is in power, no matter how odious.
The latter is troublesome, too: say you’re a talk radio host and your GM – not even your PD — walks into your office before a show and tells you not to talk about a particular topic, or insists you take a position that’s not in line with yours. I’d hope you’d be upset by that. And what if they “balanced” every segment you did with an AI-generated “opposing viewpoint” segment? That’s embarrassing, and it’s what The Los Angeles Times plans to do with its reporting. Working under those conditions will not be easy, and the paper will not be better for it.
I’ve been lucky. In almost 30 years of writing this column, I’ve never once had the site owner interfere with the content of a column. I don’t know how I’d react if they did. Then again, there’s a difference between dealing with advertisers and dealing with the White House, and the CEOs of radio companies that have generally been able to handle criticism without demanding my elimination, so there’s that.
It should also be noted that independent journalists are out there and online, providing much more context and detail than traditional media, but few are making a living doing it, and there aren’t too many that are universally regarded as fair and accurate by a majority of the public. At least they still have a voice, even if they’re on the store brand and Lean Cuisine diet.
But it’s more than a little concerning that news media companies and their CEOs are bending the knee at a time when journalism will be needed more than ever. Keeping the watchdogs on a short leash is good for billionaires but it isn’t good for America.
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Perry Michael Simon is a weekly news media columnist for Barrett Media. He previously served as VP and Editor/News-Talk-Sports/Podcast for AllAccess.com. Prior to joining the industry trade publication, Perry spent years in radio working as a Program Director and Operations Manager for KLSX and KLYY in Los Angeles and New Jersey 101.5 in Trenton. He can be found on X (formerly Twitter) @PMSimon.
