Heather du Plessis-Allan is usually pretty smart but when it comes to discussing media integrity it seems she has quite the blind spot.
Back then I thought Campbell was wrong to abandon the ideals of balance and objectivity. But now that I’ve done the job a while, I think he was bang on.
I mention this because Jeff Bezos could probably do with learning a bit from JC.
Bezos has made a total cluster this week of handling the newspaper he is so proud of owning: The Washington Post.
WaPo was planning to do what so many papers in the US do and endorse a candidate for President. No surprise, it would be Kamala Harris.
Bezos nixed the idea at the last minute. Staff quit in protest. 250,000 readers (at last count) cancelled their subscriptions.
He tried to defend himself. It was a semi-plausible argument. Trust in media is eroding, he argued, because people think the media are biased and endorsements create a perception of bias.
Semi-plausible, but also BS.
Presidential endorsements don’t create a bias perception. It’s everything the outlet does that creates that perception.
NZ Herald
Heather rather misses the point Bezos was making: it sailed right over her head and her commentary shows that.
