James is out this week, so you get me writing about the state of media (for a change).

In this issue:

And also: Oliver Darcy’s $1 million dollar newsletter, buyouts at the LA Times, and another mass exodus of subscribers from the Washington Post.

—Gabe Schneider

And just like that, there was no more old textile museum in Northwest DC. Instead, in 2020, there was Jeff Bezos’ 25-bathroom-strong house.

Now, in 2025, there is no Washington Post opinion section anymore. Instead, there is Jeff Bezos.

Earlier this week, The Post’s opinion editor resigned after Bezos declared the opinion section would now be solely dedicated to covering “personal liberties” and “free markets.”

Bezos, who bought The Post in 2013, deserves credit: Transparency about what the opinion section will stand for is ostensibly a good thing. Newspapers should strive to be transparent about what values drive their opinion and news coverage — when they don’t, it’s a way for owners to mask their political opinions.

However, Bezos’ ownership of The Post and the direction he continues to take it is grim. The ideas he argues for have consequences, and he is still not direct about what these changes will mean. The direction The Post is taking should give all journalists who care about the power of information pause — we must now choose either the slow decline of journalism or to take our journalism and labor elsewhere.  

Keep reading my full take here, if you’re interested. It’s a bit longer, to say the least!

— Gabe Schneider

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When the Trump administration moved to scrutinize student activists advocating for human rights in Gaza, student journalists at Purdue University erased something else: The digital traces that could put their classmates at risk. Read more.

48 buyouts at the LA Times: The shrinking of Los Angeles’ biggest newsrooms continues, with 48 journalists taking buyouts (the vast majority being reporters).

🐦 Read Ben Mullin on Twitter.

75,000 more people unsubscribe to the Washington Post: Jeff Bezos’ opinion section changes seem to have prompted another mass exodus of subscribers from The Post.

➡️ Read David Folkenflik’s story in NPR.

A $1,000,000 newsletter about media: Oliver Darcy left CNN to pursue his own newsletter focused on breaking stories and behind-the-scenes news about media. He’s now on track to take in more than $1 million in recurring revenue.

📰 Read the story in the Wall Street Journal.

Thanks for reading. We run thanks to you, and we’ll have more for you next week.

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