The E-Post

Thus far, Amazon's purchase of the Washington Post has attracted some notice but not a lot of analysis. Perhaps it is taking pundits a while to digest the implications of this move, which in itself in interesting because I think this is the start of a major revolution in the news business. 

Print journalism has been stale for a long time. It has unable to deal with the internet and consequently has hemorrhaged readers and revenues. Jeff Bezos and Amazon know the internet, however, and I fully expect the Post to morph into a news delivery vehicle not seen before. 

To generate real news stories takes reporters digging into information around the world. You can't do this sitting at home in your pajamas and merely opining. Reporters cost money, as does the rapid turnover of polished website material. I suspect the final product will look more like a net-version of CNN but with no talking heads and much more in-depth reporting with advertising and tracking cookies woven into the fabric like Amazon does with its own site. We'll see - the public still has to buy it, but Amazon has done fairly well in the commercial end. If Amazon can't do it, then I am not sure anybody can.