Politico's WaPo-Bezos Fever

On Tuesday morning, twelve of the fourteen top stories at Politico were related to the purchase of the Washington Post by Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. “Bezos re-Kindles hope at WaPo,” “What is Jeff Bezos Thinking?” and “Twitter primed after WaPo sale” were just a few of Politico’s headlines about the sale.

Politico’s feverish coverage reflects the mainstream media’s hopes that new investment from the tech industry could help save struggling journalistic ventures. The focus on the purchase also reflects the Beltway media’s obsession with itself, as well as a keen interest in the future direction of a publication that has played a large role in the nation’s political life even before the celebrated Woodward/Bernstein era.

And perhaps some Politico reporters, who either have journalistic experience at the Post or aspire to gain it, were musing Monday and Tuesday about what might have been–and what could yet be–for them.