Comments on: The Emperor Has No Words… and the Empire’s Media No Balls /politics/the-emperor-has-no-words-and-the-empires-media-no-balls/ Fact-based, well-reasoned perspectives from around the world Mon, 09 Mar 2026 18:32:48 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Pooka MacPhellimey /politics/the-emperor-has-no-words-and-the-empires-media-no-balls/#comment-40711 Mon, 09 Mar 2026 18:32:48 +0000 /?p=161160#comment-40711 I would suggest that you are missing a key factor in supine response of the press, if not their sycophancy, commercial interests. Many major media owners have commercial interests that, to them, are much more economically important, and much more vulnerable to political disfavor than the outlet itself. Take for example Jeff Bezos and the Washington Post. It is obvious to any observer that the Post’s rightward lurch has been commercially catastrophic for the newspaper – its circulation has collapsed. In 2023, The Washington Post’s average daily print circulation was approximately 127,700 to 139,000, the 3rd ranked paper in the U.S. with ~2.5 million digital subscribers. Print circulation is now less than 100,000 and digital subscribers down to ¼ million and falling. That’s a commercial catastrophe – so why has Bezos allowed it?

Amazon, Amazon Web Services and Blue Origin, his space launch company. All are particularly vulnerable to President Trump’s displeasure – Amazon through antitrust and other enforcement and AWS and Blue Origin to loss of government contracts. Bezos stands to gain a lot from Trump’s favor and lose a lot were he to antagonise him.

Larry Ellison and his son, David Ellison are yet another example of – they may be politically right wing, but centrally Larry at least is a show me the money guy. CBS News is less important to him than the commercial position of Oracle and his other businesses, or Paramount.

]]>