Hacker News Reader

Comment by neilv | Hacker News Reader

I was surprised that Bezos would pick the executive for something as important as the Washington Post... from a Rupert Murdoch property, of all places.

Bezos is smart, and, whether from a belief in American principles, or just optics... I don't understand taking on the risk and appearance of tainting the WaPo with key people from one of the most corrupt and toxic franchises.

Is it a signaling of power and intent, in how the WaPo will now be used, with known henchperson installed?

Or maybe Bezos knows some redeeming info on this talent, and it's not what it looks like?

I'd love to see the Amazon-style 6-page proposal brief on this.

View on HN

This sort of illustrates the point I am making, because to US eyes in particular, and anyone with understanding of corporate scandal in general, Will Lewis looks like a minor player in News International with clean hands; he worked for the Sunday Times for a bit, and was then hired as part of the cleanup effort in 2010. So in principle he is outside the "big picture".

So perhaps Bezos will have seen his time at the Telegraph, where he was something of a moderating influence, to be more important. And it may be true.

But the reality is you cannot get close to the executive at News International without the blackness seeping in. They are cynicism and expedience in human form. So, as good as his intentions may be... there's probably something he doesn't want talked about. Hard to keep from getting stained.

(I mean, put aside the politics of Fox News and consider the actions of Fox News, and I am here to tell you that the British Murdoch tabloids were more insidious than Fox News and -- until 2020 or so -- worse in their plain abuse of the truth)

Murdoch is a uniquely toxic influence on the discourse. He makes William Randolph Hearst look like a soft-soap.

As much as I agree with you about how awful Murdoch is, he is not unique. I would not let Viscount Rothermere off the hook so easily.

Oh I don't -- see my footnote about the Mail and the Mirror.

It's specifically unwise to hire anyone who worked for News International in that period, but if one is going to take a risk on hiring really any tabloid exec from that same window of time, it would be prudent to get the in-house lawyer to grill them about their conduct so it doesn't come back to bite.

Also Murdoch's awfulness is truly international, whereas the Daily Mail is only beginning to get there.

It's also not just the Brits + Fox News. Aussie Sky News is shocking.

In contemporary international culture, in the 1980s through to the 2020s, there is nobody remotely like Murdoch. There are pretenders who will try to fill the gap when he finally goes, but it's difficult to imagine a single person rising to his level of influence for another few generations. Elon Musk would love to have that clout.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com