Last month, Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post for $US250 million. Now, in the first interview he’s given since the purchase, he’s spoken out about what we can expect to see from him.
The interview is, unsurprisingly, in the Post itself. And — surprise! — it’s very buoyant and optimistic. But interesting, too! Here are some of the highlights.
On applying Amazon’s tactics to the newspaper:
“We’ve had three big ideas at Amazon that we’ve stuck with for 18 years, and they’re the reason we’re successful: Put the customer first. Invent. And be patient. If you replace ‘customer’ with ‘reader,’ that approach, that point of view, can be successful at the Post, too.”
On paying for news:
“Even behind a paywall, websites can summarize your work and make it available for free. From a reader point of view, the reader has to ask, ‘Why should I pay you for all that journalistic effort when I can get it for free’ from another site?”
On who will take the credit:
“If we figure out a new golden era at the Post… that will be due to the ingenuity and inventiveness and experimentation of the team at the Post. won’t deserve credit for it.”
It still unclear exactly what Bezos’s motivations are for buying the Post, but at least he seems enthusiastic about it. You can read the full interview over on the Washington Post site. [Washington Post]