News media should illuminate conflicts of interest, not embody them. But the owner of the\u00a0Washington Post\u00a0is now doing big business with the Central Intelligence Agency, while readers of the newspaper\u2019s CIA coverage are left in the dark. <\/i><\/p>\n
The\u00a0Post\u2019s new owner, Jeff \u00a0Bezos, is the founder and CEO of Amazon \u2014 which recently landed a\u00a0$600 million contract with the CIA. But the\u00a0Post\u2019s articles about the CIA are not disclosing that the newspaper\u2019s sole owner is the main owner of CIA business partner Amazon.<\/p>\n
Even for a multi-billionaire like Bezos, a $600 million contract is a big deal. That\u2019s more than twice as much as Bezos paid to buy the\u00a0Post\u00a0four months ago.<\/p>\n
And there\u2019s likely to be plenty more where that CIA largesse came from. Amazon\u2019s offer wasn\u2019t the low bid, but it won the CIA contract anyway by offering advanced high-tech \u201ccloud\u201d infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Bezos personally and publicly touts Amazon Web Services, and it\u2019s evident that Amazon will be seeking more CIA contracts. Last month, Amazon issued a statement saying, \u201cWe look forward to a successful relationship with the CIA.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Amazon\u2019s majority owner and the\u00a0Post\u2019s only owner, Bezos stands to gain a lot more if his newspaper does less ruffling and more soothing of CIA feathers.<\/p>\n
Amazon has a bad history of currying favor with the U.S. government\u2019s \u201cnational security\u201d establishment. The media watch group FAIR\u00a0pointed out<\/a>\u00a0what happened after WikiLeaks published State Department cables: \u201cWikiLeaks was booted from Amazon\u2019s webhosting service AWS. So at the height of public interest in what WikiLeaks was publishing, readers were unable to access the WikiLeaks website.\u201d<\/p>\n How\u2019s that for a commitment to the public\u2019s right to know?<\/p>\n Days ago, my colleagues at RootsAction.org launched a\u00a0petition<\/a>\u00a0that says: \u201cThe\u00a0Washington Post\u2019s coverage of the CIA should include full disclosure that the sole owner of the\u00a0Post\u00a0is also the main owner of Amazon \u2014 and Amazon is now gaining huge profits directly from the CIA.\u201d More than 15,000 people have signed the petition so far this week, with many posting comments that underscore widespread belief in journalistic principles.<\/p>\n While the\u00a0Post\u00a0functions as a powerhouse media outlet in the Nation\u2019s Capital, it\u2019s also a national and global entity \u2014 read every day by millions of people who never hold its newsprint edition in their hands. Hundreds of daily papers reprint the\u00a0Post\u2019s news articles and opinion pieces, while online readership spans the world.<\/p>\n Propaganda largely depends on patterns of omission and repetition. If, in its coverage of the CIA, the\u00a0Washington Post\u00a0were willing to fully disclose the financial ties that bind its owner to the CIA, such candor would shed some light on how top-down power actually works in our society.<\/p>\n \u201cThe\u00a0Post\u00a0is unquestionably the political paper of record in the United States, and how it covers governance sets the agenda for the balance of the news media,\u201d journalism scholar Robert W. McChesney points out. \u201cCitizens need to know about this conflict of interest in the columns of the\u00a0Post\u00a0itself.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement just released by the Institute for Public Accuracy, McChesney added: \u201cIf some official enemy of the United States had a comparable situation \u2014 say the owner of the dominant newspaper in Caracas was getting $600 million in secretive contracts from the Maduro government \u2014 the\u00a0Post\u00a0itself would lead the howling chorus impaling that newspaper and that government for making a mockery of a free press. It is time for the\u00a0Post\u00a0to take a dose of its own medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n From\u00a0the Institute, we also contacted other media and intelligence analysts to ask for assessments;\u00a0their comments<\/a>\u00a0are unlikely to ever appear in the\u00a0Washington Post.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat emerges now is what, in intelligence parlance, is called an \u2018agent of influence\u2019 owning the\u00a0Post\u00a0\u2013 with a huge financial interest in playing nice with the CIA,\u201d said former CIA official Ray McGovern. \u201cIn other words, two main players nourishing the national security state in undisguised collaboration.\u201d<\/p>\n A former reporter for\u00a0the\u00a0Washington Post\u00a0and many other news organizations, John Hanrahan, said: \u201cIt\u2019s all so basic. Readers of the\u00a0Washington Post, which reports frequently on the CIA, are entitled to know \u2014 and to be reminded on a regular basis in stories and editorials in the newspaper and online \u2014 that the\u00a0Post\u2019s new owner Jeff Bezos stands to benefit substantially from Amazon\u2019s $600 million contract with the CIA. Even with such disclosure, the public should not feel assured they are getting tough-minded reporting on the CIA. One thing is certain:\u00a0Post\u00a0reporters and editors are aware that Bezos, as majority owner of Amazon, has a financial stake in maintaining good relations with the CIA \u2014 and this sends a clear message to even the hardest-nosed journalist that making the CIA look bad might not be a good career move.\u201d<\/p>\n The rich and powerful blow hard against the flame of truly independent journalism. If we want the lantern carried high, we\u2019re going to have to do it ourselves.<\/p>\n __________________________<\/p>\n Norman Solomon<\/i> is co-founder of RootsAction.org and founding director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His books include \u201cWar Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.\u201d Information about the documentary based on the book is at\u00a0www.WarMadeEasyTheMovie.org<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n