Come on in, Jeff -- the water's warm. @JeffBezos has every right to take the WaPo editorial page in a new direction, emphasizing "free markets and personal liberties." I think he's right that these ideas are "underserved in the current market of ideas and news opinion." We founded The Dispatch more than five years ago with a similar assumption. "We are launching The Dispatch to do right as we see it, by providing engaged citizens fact-based reporting and commentary on politics, policy and culture —informed by conservative principles," we wrote back then. What I find curious about Bezos' note is the announcement, in advance, that the WaPo isn't interested in publishing pieces opposing the "pillars" of personal liberties and free markets. What does that mean? Maybe it's nothing more than a declaration of the broad direction of the pages. Fair enough, if so. But if it's an announcement that the WaPo is joining the ever-increasing ranks of institutions in the journalism-as-fan-service business, that's...not great. There are, of course, outlets that have made lots of money on this model -- affirmation-over-information -- but this trend has worsened public debates on big issues. The people only consuming news inside a closed information environment without ever being confronted by contrary views -- living in "filter bubbles" or "silos" -- are inevitably underinformed. "The balkanization of the media landscape and the commodification of cheap opinion encourages outlets to emphasize quantity over quality. It’s easier—and considerably cheaper—to provide quick outrage to an audience eager for affirmation than it is to produce good reporting and thoughtful, fact-based commentary that might challenge consumers—and citizens." We're unlikely to publish a piece arguing for single-payer health care or European-style speech policing. But we'd happily run analyses exploring market failures in U.S. health care and a possible government role in addressing them - or examining limits on free speech in support of terrorist groups like Hamas. (We just launched a weekly debate series, inviting two top thinkers on big issues to make their cases side-by-side.) Better to have big and sometimes contentious fights over policies and ideas than the proverbial "Amen chorus" so popular today.
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