Bezos might have saved the Washington Publish’s native information and sports activities reporters

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The largest tech story dominating Washington proper now’s, by the way, a media story. Final week, shortly after The Washington Publish laid off 400 staffers and closed lots of its desks, and earlier than its absentee CEO Will Lewis acquired summarily shoved out, I wrote a column making an attempt to determine whether or not there was even a cynical, self-interested cause that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos continued to personal the Publish: Was it to help journalism, generate income, or suck as much as Donald Trump?

This weekend I discovered of a dialogue that may have each saved the Publish cash and supported a number of journalists, however by no means went by means of: After it was reported in late January that the Post was eyeing the elimination of the sports desk, the Washington Metropolis Paper, a famend newspaper with deep roots in DC, had supplied to buy each the Publish’s sports activities and native sections, thereby retaining these journalists employed.

Sources near the dialogue stated Mark Ein, the proprietor of the Metropolis Paper and an element proprietor of the Washington Commanders, had approached then-CEO Lewis weeks in the past with a proposal: They may as an alternative spin sports activities and native right into a separate entity that the Metropolis Paper would then spend money on and host on its platform. (Information organizations promoting off sections and IPs will not be an unheard-of phenomenon.)

Although Lewis was reportedly receptive, the discussions abruptly ended final Wednesday, when the Publish closed these sections altogether and laid off the journalists who staffed them. Within the case of the sports activities’ journalists, they have been proper in the course of the Winter Olympics and about to cowl the Tremendous Bowl.

That call hit significantly exhausting for longtime Washington Publish readers: A generation of sports journalists had grown up on the Post’s coverage of local teams, and it was two native beat reporters that ended up breaking the Watergate scandal.

In response to an X post imploring him to rent the newly obtainable Posties “to present this area the protection it deserves,” Ein stated that he was “on it.” The Washington Publish didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Over the weekend, I hit up some extra insiders from the worlds of journalism, tech, and the Trump gossip chains, all of whom had labored with Bezos and the Publish, on the lookout for solutions. It seems that they have been simply as confused as I used to be, and two of them allowed me to print their ideas.

An govt who’s labored in journalism and philanthropy and labored with Bezos:

“The way in which I used to explain billionaires who personal media properties is that they don’t wish to write extra checks, which means they suppose the subsidy they’re offering is that they’re not requested for the paper to ship them a test yearly. All their different companies give them dividends, proper? However this one, they’re like, High-quality. Simply don’t lose cash, and simply don’t bug me anymore. They’re making an attempt to rationalize the enterprise by making it lose much less cash.

“So, him making an attempt to make it lose much less, that type of is sensible. It’s simply curious as to why he’s doing it in any respect. And what does it get out of it? Does he love the enterprise? He’s by no means made a pronouncement a lot as loving it. I believe there’s a part of the equation that isn’t solvable, at some stage. After which that’s what individuals are filling in with, He needs affect with Trump or in some way needs us to have his different companies. I’ve by no means heard him say something like that. I’ve by no means heard anyone from The Washington Publish assert something like that. I’ve by no means seen proof of it. Nevertheless it’s kind of what you fill within the clean with, when the equation isn’t including up. What I believe is true is, it’s irrational for him to personal this factor.”

Kara Swisher, the tech journalist and host of Pivot, who put collectively a really public bid final yr to buy the Publish however by no means heard again from Bezos. (Disclosure: Swisher’s podcast Pivot is produced by Vox Media.) Right here’s her response in full:

“I don’t know besides in some non botoxed a part of his as soon as sharp mind he thinks he’s doing what it’ll take to protect the Publish for the long run. However I think, given how feral he has at all times been from the beginning, he needs to indicate fealty to Trump and on the identical time smother it slowly to protect his choices to have a doable cudgel on the prepared if want be.

This a lot is true: Bezos has at all times been about optionality and can do no matter it takes to additional his pursuits. It will be so significantly better if he offered it and acquired Vogue, however since he’s 10 instances wealthier than when he acquired the Publish in 2013, why not have all of it? Or possibly, simply possibly, he’s only a jerk.”

Hmmm. An underappreciated reality concerning the layoffs, reported out first by Sara Fischer at Axios: Out of the 400 folks laid off, 75 of them came from Arc XP, the Publish’s tech publishing arm that was additionally funded by Bezos.

Nexstar vs. Newsmax heats up

There’s a brand new sort of rising backlash to Trump on the appropriate, and it’s led by the cable community that had as soon as been deeply loyal to him.

Right this moment, Chris Ruddy, the CEO of the right-wing cable community Newsmax and a significant Trump ally, testified within the Senate in opposition of the $6.2 billion Nexstar-Tegna merger, alongside a number of journalism nonprofits supporting native information. The deal would have required that the Federal Communications Fee, led by Chairman Brendan Carr, raise a regulatory cap that restricted corporations to solely proudly owning 39 % of the tv market. Ought to the deal undergo the Senate, the Nexstar-Tegna entity would personal 54 %.

“It’s insane what they’re [Nexstar-Tegna] claiming,” Ruddy informed me on the cellphone after the listening to. “Initially, they’re claiming that they’re rising competitors by consolidating an enormous merger. After which they declare that they’re defending native information. Native information goes to be decimated, and Nexstar has a historical past of firing journalists and consolidating newsrooms wherever they’ll.”

In his opening testimony, Ruddy argued that the merger would create much more company media consolidation and stop impartial, native, non-corporate corporations from with the ability to enter the market. “With the collapse of native newspapers and the gutting of native radio as a consequence of prior consolidation, tv now stands largely alone as the first supply of native information,” he acknowledged, mentioning that even native information tales that go viral on tech platforms originate from native TV information. “Once you increase the nationwide possession cap, you’re effectively saying that two or

three firms ought to ultimately personal most or all tv stations in America — and by extension, management native information. That’s what consolidation really means.”

Newsmax itself has some battle scars from related offers: Though it’s the seventh-most-watched cable channel within the nation in keeping with Nielsen rankings, it’s additionally a frequent goal of nationwide media corporations repeatedly undermining its capability to air throughout the nation. For instance, Ruddy explicitly referred to as out Nexstar for making a knockoff and promoting it for affordable:

“Nexstar additionally insists that cable operators carry its little-watched cable information channel, NewsNation. Final yr, Newsmax delivered not less than 5 instances the rankings of NewsNation, but cable operators have been pressured not solely to hold NewsNation, however to pay license charges considerably larger than these paid to Newsmax. We hear an incredible deal concerning the free market. However this isn’t the free market. That is

market leverage and manipulation used to hurt shoppers and suppress competitors — particularly competitors from impartial voices like Newsmax.”

The Nexstar-Tegna plot twist:

In November 2025, Trump, whom Ruddy has donated to since 2016, vehemently blasted the deal on Reality Social, saying that it might “permit the Radical Left Networks to ‘enlarge,’” and subsequently give mainstream media a tighter grip on the nation: “NO EXPANSION OF THE FAKE NEWS NETWORKS. If something, make them SMALLER!” However quick ahead to final Saturday, and Trump out of the blue modified his thoughts, writing on Truth Social that the merger would truly “assist knock out the Pretend Information as a result of there will probably be extra competitors, and at the next and extra refined stage.”

So what modified? There’s a selected style of “sucking as much as Trump” that goes again to his first administration, when Trump was regularly mainlining cable information: Particular curiosity teams would purchase advertisements in particular tv markets and run them on Fox Information within the hopes that Trump was watching. And over the previous few months — particularly throughout school and professional soccer playoff video games — I’ve been catching two very specific ads paid for by a bunch referred to as Hold Information Native, which seems to be instantly asking Trump to help the Nexstar-Tegna merger. Their argument has a really Trumpian gloss: Over footage of the president, a voice-over claims that the merger would help “impartial voices,” would “defeat the faux information media,” and was “essential for MAGA to outlive.” (The cherry on high: “President Trump defeated the faux information monopolies earlier than by means of impartial voices and native information.”)

Punchbowl reported last week that Hold Information Native, which additionally ran a marketing campaign on X, is a right-wing coalition that’s in favor of the merger, and consists of Constructing America’s Future, a bunch backed by Elon Musk. I’ll weigh in by saying that this can be the least refined affect marketing campaign advert I’ve ever seen on Washington tv. However subtlety hasn’t been a part of Nexstar’s Trump technique writ massive; there was, in spite of everything, the time final September once they attempted to get Jimmy Kimmel Live! canceled, prompted by Carr attacking the late-night host after he made a joke associated to the political fallout from Charlie Kirk’s loss of life. Conversely, a counter-group referred to as Hold It Native Media started pumping out its personal advertisements in opposition to the deal.

Ruddy informed me that whereas he was not affiliated with any of the political teams supporting or opposing the merger, he knew that the pro-merger teams have been placing “some huge cash” into the marketing campaign. That stated, he couldn’t say whether or not they’d have the specified impact: “I believe on the finish of the day, Trump makes his personal thoughts. I’m undecided he’s going to be influenced by an advert marketing campaign.”

What tech moguls have we just lately seen within the Epstein information?

“The Trump Cellphone is actual (ish)”

After a number of weeks of asking whether the Trump Phone (remember that?) was actually real, our very personal Dominic Preston, who has reviewed many a smartphone in his time, managed to get Trump Cellular executives to at least show him the phone over Zoom. It is not going to, nevertheless, be “made within the USA” as promised — as an alternative, the telephones will undergo “closing meeting” in Miami.

Tremendous Bowl vs. Turning Level USA

TPUSA claims that its Tremendous Bowl halftime present starring Child Rock — MAGA counterprogramming to the NFL’s official Dangerous Bunny halftime present — drew 6.1 million concurrent viewers on YouTube TV.

Streaming numbers are nonetheless a fudgy artwork, however one factor’s for certain: That quantity would have been larger in the event that they’d been in a position to livestream the present on Musk’s X. Alas, TPUSA needed to cancel the X livestream on the final minute, and an insider informed The Verge it was as a consequence of copyright and music licensing points. Supposedly, one tune was not cleared to be broadcast on the “all the things app” as a consequence of an previous clause grandfathered in from the times when it was Twitter.

And at last, Tremendous Bowl advert Recess.

My colleagues Charles Pulliam-Moore and Jess Weatherbed waded through the slop of Super Bowl generative AI ads, of which, apparently, there have been too many. I want to add my ideas to the canon:

See you subsequent week, and ship all tricks to every way that we list here.