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Comment by filoleg | Hacker News Reader

WaPo has publicized quite a few articles critical of Jeff Bezos and Amazon, even after WaPo was acquired. So this is something that seems to be just another baseless "jeff bad" take.

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The questions shouldn't focus on what he lets get printed - we still live in an age where journalism seems to have minimal consequences no matter the quality - but what happens if e.g. the WaPo Guild takes action in solidarity with an Amazon union.

>but what happens if e.g. the WaPo Guild takes action in solidarity with an Amazon union?

Luckily, we don't need to wonder, because WaPo has actually posted that kind of an article just yesterday, and it was extremely critical of Amazon's anti-unionization efforts [0]. The article's headline is "Amazon’s anti-union blitz stalks Alabama warehouse workers everywhere, even the bathroom". Even the headline itself wasn't sugarcoated or softened in the slightest.

0. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/02/02/amazon-...

This is not an especially a sympathetic article to either side, but I'm talking about things beyond the core remit of a newsroom. If Amazon workers strike, what happens if the WaPo Guild refuses to cross the picket line by accepting Amazon deliveries, using AWS, or run articles alongside Amazon ads?

> The questions shouldn't focus on what he lets get printed

Bezos has no say in what can and can't be published.

There is a difference between "does not have editorial oversight" - which I believe - and "has no say in what can be published" - which is trivially false since as owner he could do anything from hire only sports reporters to shut the whole thing down if he wanted.

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