The Billionaire Playbook: How Media Moguls Silence Dissent

Last week, the White House announced its plan to begin hand-selecting which news outlets will be given access to the Oval Office and directly questioning President Donald Trump. Alongside breaking more than a century of tradition, the announcement comes in a long list of recent incidents pointing to a loss of journalistic expression. With increased fears that actions like this may destroy journalistic integrity, let’s look at one of the more subtle types of recent infringements on the media: buyouts.

In a move straight out of The Interview, mega conglomerates have been suppressing their papers for years, but how has this functionally changed traditional media structures? Take the Washington Post, for example. In 2013, notable multibillionaire and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos purchased the paper, mainly maintaining a hands-off approach. Recently, however, the mogul changed his stance with a February 26th X post claiming the media giant will now cover, defend, and support two main pillars: personal liberties and free markets. Regardless of the shift from a widely considered moderate stance as a newspaper to one spewing laissez-faire rhetoric, the move has broader implications for journalism and society.

Like many other individuals, Bezos can and has thrown money to destroy dissent. With a free press comes criticism of him and his business, which makes dealing with him disadvantageous. From this lousy publicity comes decreased relations with politicians who can directly influence legislation that affects the company’s share prices. The danger here is that, unlike processes like lobbying, which are viewed as corrupt at their base, journalism is supposed to be of the highest integrity. Journalism is supposed to check authority, not bow down and shift for it. Not only is this journalistic integrity compromised when financial stakes and mogul biases supersede free speech, but such problems are worsened by the recent changes in the social media landscape over the past decade. 

Though the ‘Post leans left, seldom are there articles calling for a revolution and eating the ruling class, so why has Bezos adopted such a stance? Is he truly afraid that the Washington Post - the very organization he purchased not on a whim but through careful consideration - will disrupt his profit margins by following through with its remit to critique institutions within the United States in the name of serving the people, thereby reinforcing its own motto that “Democracy Dies in Darkness”?  

Recent cutbacks on fact-checking by Meta, combined with social media usage at an all-time high, allow anyone to hop on the internet and spew misinformation if they choose, with little to no moderation to curb such falsehoods. As posters seek engagement and clicks, headlines on X and Instagram become more and more outrageous while being fact-checked less and less regularly. Previously, one could step away from their phone and pick up the newspaper if they noticed a lack of journalistic integrity in what they saw. However, Bezos’ message to employees sets an alarming precedent for the future.

As employees leave and subscriptions wane, churnalism will increase, and investigative, in-depth content will dwindle. This, however, is the exact process that billionaires like Bezos hope for: that their actions be removed from the public eye. Take, for example, Elon Musk, whose recent ascendancy to acting POTUS is, at least in part, a result of his acquisition of X in October 2022. Within a year of purchasing the tech giant, Musk had already been targeting journalists and dismantling content moderation while reinstating the accounts of far-right actors like Laura Loomer, Alex Jones, and President Donald Trump, who were previously banned from the platform for violating its rules of conduct. These actors have subsequently continued their campaigns of disinformation in an attempt to control the narrative - the very thing they were banned for in the first place. 

These actions helped Musk rise to the White House, furthering his engagement with conservative voices and endearing him to a base who would have previously seen him as a ‘liberally-minded elitist’ who stood for things they didn’t: clean energy, socially progressive causes, and being a ‘foreigner’. Now, however, the script has been flipped, with Musk seen as a conservative darling. The main difference is that, unlike everyone else, he’s fooled his new base into thinking he genuinely cares about their causes by paying lip service to them while using his platform to censor criticism of him or the Trump Administration. Simultaneously, Musk has haphazardly gutted federal funding to longtime institutions, such as Medicaid and Veterans’ Affairs, which provides tangible care to the American people.

Much like Bezos and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, it is evident that Musk’s actions are part of an elaborate plan to rise to power by controlling the media and suppressing dissent, actions that proved quite beneficial as the net worth of the world’s richest man rose by billions after Trump’s second presidential victory. Contrary to the belief of their tech-bro sycophants, these men are not geniuses, visionaries, or part of the intelligentsia, but they are aware—much like Donald Trump—that money controls the politics of the United States, and as some of the wealthiest people in the world, that control is now near-limitless if they can avoid bruising the ego of the current president. The era of American oligarchy is truly here.

Allowing those in power to dispel criticism is the first step towards authoritarianism, a fact history does not reflect kindly on. Though Bezos, Musk, and the other media tycoons have seemingly insurmountable wealth, their reputations are still vulnerable. Holding these rulers accountable is an integral aspect of justice and electoral politics. STAND News has committed to this process. One must therefore prioritize the dissemination and consumption of information via journalistic platforms that prioritize equity, accountability, and justice to promote freer and more equal media for all.