The Washington Post was gutted today

Jeff Bezos gutted the Washington Post today like he was cleaning a fish. 

Here is a letter from the head of Meidas Touch — independent journalist. 

Dear Jeff Bezos and the leadership team of The Washington Post,

As you know, I am Ben Meiselas, the co-founder and chairman of the MeidasTouch Network, now the largest independent news network in the world.

I never thought I would need to write this letter.

The Washington Post was once a standard-bearer for American journalism. It stood for fearless investigative reporting, for holding the powerful accountable, and for the simple but radical idea that democracy cannot survive without a free press.

That institution is now being destroyed.

Roughly one-third of your reporting staff has been eliminated. Some of the most respected journalists in the profession—people with decades-long careers devoted to serious investigative work—were discarded. Not with dignity. Not with gratitude. But with a cold, generic letter from human resources.

That level of callousness tells us everything.

Let’s be clear about what this really is. This is not restructuring. This is not belt-tightening. This is not a difficult but necessary business decision.

This is capitulation to authoritarianism.