On March 24, the Brandeis Journalism program hosted “Who Owns the News?” a panel that featured four former Washington Post journalists to discuss the effects of billionaire ownership of media outlets. The event, held in Rapaporte Treasure Hall, was fully packed with students, alumni, news reporters and local journalists. The panel included Kainaz Amaria, former senior visuals editor for the Post’s investigative unit and Marty Baron, who spent 22 years at the Washington Post and lead both the Post and The Boston Globe to Pulitzer Prizes during his tenure. They were joined by Kevin Merida, former executive editor of The Los Angeles Times and former managing editor at the Post, as well as Janice Page, the Post’s former arts editor.

In 2013, Bezos purchased The Washington Post from the Graham family for $250 million. Bezos’ ownership marked a new era for the Post, which had garnered massive support through its coverage of the Watergate scandal and the Pentagon Papers under the Graham family. Although Bezos initially described himself as a “hands-off” owner, he has taken a more active role in the paper since 2023, noting that he intended to transform the Post into an international news power. Bezos was the second billionaire to buy a U.S. newspaper in 2013, following Red Sox owner John Henry’s purchase of The Boston Globe for $70 million. Other notable billionaire owners of media outlets include Rupert Murdoch of The Wall Street Journal and Fox News, Patrick Soon-Shiong of the Los Angeles Times and Elon Musk of X. 

The speakers discussed the aftermath of Jeff Bezos’ takeover of the paper and how this resulted in mass employee layoffs. Page explained that employees were sent an email, either with the subject “Your job has been eliminated” or “Your job has not been eliminated.” Her department was especially affected, as only two arts critics and news writers were spared. Marty Baron, author of “Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos, and THE WASHINGTON POST” confessed that while he initially trusted Bezos, he believed that Bezos was distracted by other pursuits such as the Blue Origin astronautics company and his various philanthropies. “Obviously the book needs a sequel,” he joked, referencing his positive first impression of Bezos. Baron argued that Bezos’ failure to supervise the paper was “negligence, or even malpractice.” Merida emphasized that the nature of journalism requires transparency and trust in media outlets, which was not achieved under Bezos’ ownership. “Our profession is written into the Constitution” he argued, stressing the importance of holding powerful leaders accountable under law. 

The panelists continued to discuss failures of the Post under Bezos’ leadership. Amaria argued that Bezos wasted money on technological advancements, including an Artificial Intelligence assistant meant to summarize articles. This AI robot, however, was often inaccurate and “mangled journalism,” Amaria said. Baron compared the Post to The New York Times, arguing that the Times has remained successful because they have been able to diversify outside of political news, noting the NYT games initiative and cooking app. By contrast, the Post owners “did not have a strategy of diversification” which led to a loss of subscriptions and financial burdens. Amaria added to Baron’s point, claiming “This was not a failure of journalism or journalists. This was a failure of leadership. Where they made mistakes was on the business side.” 

The panel ended on an optimistic note, with Merida saying that “it’s a great time” for journalism students interested in the field. During the question and answer session, Page responded to a journalist’s question about the future of journalism and explained that “arts are one of the few things that separate us as a species.” Amaria also added that she has “always known a tumultuous industry” and that recent events should not let writers shy away from the field. River Simard ’26 asked the panelists how new journalists should prepare for the field given its “dynamic growth.” Amaria answered that knowing the pillars and values of journalism is the most important thing a journalist can do. She described journalism as a “t-shaped” profession, where the vertical represents a deep understanding of journalism and the horizontal reflects a willingness to collaborate and apply that knowledge to the world around you. Another student asked the panelists how they would restructure ownership of newsrooms given the need to sustain a business while serving the greater population. Baron recommended that in order to restore journalistic integrity, a possible solution could be to place outlets under a public trust system of ownership. 

The speakers concluded that if the practice of journalism is to remain trustworthy, the owners of each enterprise must remember the central tenets of the profession and focus on the needs of their audiences. "In any field the person in charge has to have integrity, " said Baron. "People who join a news organization need to look at what their ethics are. Any institution has a right to set down the standards. If folks don't agree with them, then they don't have to work there."