The sales of the Washington
Post to Jeff Bezos and the Boston
Globe to John Henry raise the question why people would want to own newspapers
if they aren’t doing so for obvious financial gain.
There are clearly people who want to own papers for political
purposes so they can directly influence debate and policy. This is certainly the case for the
ultra-conservative Koch brothers, who have been trying to buy the Los Angeles Times this past year. But Bezos and Henry don't seem to fit that mold.
Bezos’ purposes for buying the Post are not the pursuit of profit. He certainly would produce better returns putting more effort into Amazon or another commercial firm. John Henry
can expect far more returns from effort in his investment firm or
his sports empire than the Globe. So why
are they buying legacy media?
The answers lie in human traits. All of us need diversions. We need toys to
play with; things to spark our interest and imaginations.
Bezos can clearly bring ideas and expertise gained from
shifting the mail order catalog concept to the web and contribute his innovative spirit to the Post.
The challenges of learning the media business and trying to transform its
distribution and operations are clearly interesting and attractive. And the price for
the Amazon creator isn’t high.
John Henry doesn’t bring great digital expertise to the Globe, but he does bring strong
organization, marketing, and turn-around skills and experience to the effort. He also has strong local community ties and
bringing ownership back to Boston is a gift to the
city. Especially because hating everything associated with New York is the city's pastime.
The newspaper ownership will also make both of them more respectable as citizens, not just as
businessmen. There is a long tradition of wealthy U.S. merchants,
industrialists, and traders playing citizenship roles in
public life and philanthropy after achieving immense personal success. These range
from Andrew Carnegie to J.P. Morgan and J. Paul Getty to Bill Gates.
Some
who moved into public roles have done so to gain respectability that eluded
them because of harm they caused while climbing to the top; other because of a
genuine desire to make society better.
The
sales of the Post and the Globe reveal a breed of owner who wants
not just respectability or making contributions to society, but a place to use
their knowledge and abilities to tackle new challenges. Whether it will help
the newspaper industry remains to be seen, but it will at least inject new ways of
thinking into the industry.
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