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About Democracy Dying in Darkness
I’m lamenting so much about Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post
First, it was the decision not to endorse a presidential candidate, then came the rejection of a great editorial cartoon, then the departures of favorite writers and columnists . . .
Those episodes were followed by the announcement of Bezos-owned Washington Post’s new slogan, “Riveting Storytelling for all of America.” Reportedly, it’s just a new ‘mission statement’ and is not meant to replace the old.
Which is, of course, “Democracy dies in darkness.”
I am struggling with all this. Truthfully, I thought that “Democracy dies in darkness” had been the Post mantra forever; only now am I learning that it dates back to the darkness of the pandemic. So, it is hardly as archivally significant as the New York Times’s famous slogan, “All the News That’s Fit to Print,” which has been around for over a century.
Riveting storytelling is great. Newspapers, though, used to be run (and written) by those who, above all else, sought the light of truth. Most of the writers and reporters I know, including some who have been with the Post, the Times, and other still-surviving newspapers for years, want to find and report the truth. Without it, how does democracy live?