The Washington Post has retained Droga5, the highly-regarded creative agency recently acquired by Accenture, to stop the bleeding with a better logo and branding.
The New York Times, the world’s largest puzzle company with a legacy newsroom, has nailed the crux of the problem with a devastating examination of the ethical cancer now spreading across The Washington Post, with the elevation of one of Murdoch’s British henchman, Will Lewis, to its helm and Robert Winnett as its incoming editor. Both men are implicated in the media equivalent of Watergate. Go figure.
A problem like this would be vexing for even the best advertising agency looking to explain a hypocrisy that is so utterly monumental. It’s a good thing the leadership of the advertising firm is Australian and British as they will no doubt have a particular point of view when explaining how epic scumbaggery, the likes of which Lewis and Winnett participated in working for Rupert, are consistent with the legacy of The Washington Post.
Here is the simple truth:
Will Lewis is unfit to lead The Washington Post at any time — let alone in the middle of a trust Armageddon and the rise of MAGA fascism during an election in which the future of American democracy hangs in the balance. The formula is simple. The newsroom doesn’t trust the publisher, and therefore the public won’t trust the newsroom. It is appalling and tragic.
The Washington Post is a vital American institution, and the fact that the world’s wealthiest man is so desperate to make a few more dollars that he would burn what he bought in order to do so, is sad. The truth is that the United States needs The Washington Post, and it is on the edge of financial and moral collapse.
There are 141 days left until the last votes of the 2024 election are counted, and about 110 until the first are cast. What is the nature of this moment? What is happening in the country? Where should the American people go to appreciate the dangers at hand and the storm coming? Should they go to CNN?
There have been many low moments for journalism in America during the Trump era. Over and over again, The Donald has steamrolled the free press — and perhaps more precisely — the executives who sit atop these vital institutions. It will be hard to find a more pristine example of the collapse of American journalism — and the type of nonsense Americans will be fed day-to-day if Trump wins — from David Zaslav’s newsroom than this appalling interview between Laura Coates and the UFC’s Dana White.
I’ll leave it to better minds to answer the question of why a CNN anchor was interviewing a wife beater about a rapist who defamed his victim, and didn’t ask him about the coincidence. Incredibly, the wife beater got to deliver a long soliloquy on how Trump loves all Americans. Apparently, from a wife beater’s perspective, he looks like Jesus.
Appalling, yet predictable.
Everything is on the line in America, and the country slumbers on. It is June, and the alarm hasn’t sounded yet. I hope it does.
This is The Warning.
“I’ll leave it to better minds to answer the question of why a CNN anchor was interviewing a wife beater about a rapist who defamed his victim, and didn’t ask him about the coincidence.”
Honestly Steve, I’m not sure “better” minds can answer this question. To do so, we’d need to answer why CNN gave a rigged (audience) and welcoming town hall, to a man who actually raped the women in question, to which White was referring to.
The easy answer would be that a news corporation’s true god, is the all mighty dollar. Yet, that would be the simplistic answer, since we also live in a Bizzaro world, where up is down, and down is a meaningless and empty, bottomless pit.
My guess, it’s a combination of greed, incompetence and the patriarchy…:)
Although I appreciate being informed about the media, I still view our theocratic issue as the elephant in the room.
I have written about Mark Robinson, MAGA Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina, with a good chance of being elected Governor of this state in November. Last year he spoke to a network of churches in this state and said that the goal should be a Christian society where men rule. Those were his words.
And after saying that he was nominated to run for Governor. He has good poll numbers. He may win. I must be behind the times because it seems like everyone around me in this state is pushing for a theocracy led by men with women as second class citizens.