Did Something Die In Here?

As noted recently by political scientist & analyst Larry Sabato on the telly, newspaper/whatever endorsements seldom to never matter in Presidential elections, 'though they affect local contests. The actual problem is the ease w/ which billionaires are frightened.

Not that the formerly ink-stained wretches of the press always acquitted themselves well, but apparently the publishers of the WaPo & L.A. Times are merely money-grubbing businessmen who want to use these once semi-respectable properties for at best self-promotion & at worst to take a percentage of every financial transaction in the world or impose some bizarro South African racial ideology on the world.

Robert Reich:
Cowardice and intimidation at The Washington Post and L.A. Times  —  I apologize for bothering you again today, but this is important.  Will Lewis, the chief executive of The Washington Post, announced today that the paper would not endorse a presidential candidate this year.  —  Why not? 

Jeff Mordock / Washington Times:   Washington Post won't endorse presidential candidate for first time in decades
Parker Molloy / The Present Age:
Playing It Safe Is Risking Democracy: Media's Silent Endorsement of Authoritarianism  —  I woke up this morning thinking about authoritarianism.  —  In his 2017 book On Tyranny, historian Timothy Snyder introduced the concept of “anticipatory obedience,” warning that “most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given.”
more at Mediagazer »

Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:

The Guardrails Are Already Crumpling  —  Editor's note: The Bulwark is supported not by a billionaire, but by the members who gather here every day to read, talk to, and learn from each other.  We believe that this is how you save democracy.  With the little platoons of a community. 

Erik De La Garza / Raw Story:   Jeff Bezos just taught American businessmen a ‘lesson’: Bulwark editor

Hate Love to be a cynic*, so note that J.V. Last of The Bulwark wants money. Worth reading, however:

But this isn’t a journalism story. It’s a business story.

Following Trump’s 2016 victory, the Post leaned hard into its role as a guardian of democracy. This meant criticizing, and reporting aggressively on, Trump, who responded by threatening Bezos’s various business interests.

And that’s what this story is about: It’s about the most consequential American entrepreneur of his generation signaling his submission to Trump—and the message that sends to every other corporation and business leader in the country. In the world.

Killing this editorial says, If Jeff Bezos has to be nice to Trump, then so do you. Keep your nose clean, bub.

In the interests of something or another, the Times has covered the issue.

Behind the music:

"First it was a an acid trip that had a frightening end to it, and that started me thinking about terror," he said. "And then I went My God, what about my friends in Vietnam? Talk about terror. That's how I connected with it.

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*Keeps disappointment to a minimum.