Today’s post comes from disgraced former journalist Bud Buck.
People often ask me to explain how, as a one-time newsboy poster child and respected radio anchor, I became a disgraced former journalist. I always tell them if they’ll simply sweeten my palm with a $20, the story is theirs. Sometimes it works.
The short version is this – it became so difficult to manage all the true information that was in the world, as a self defense mechanism I started to make things up. It worked for a while and I began to see my job as a form of self-expression. It didn’t hurt to lie so much when I remembered that it really was all about me!
And now the rickety tower that was once the institution of American journalism is approaching total collapse with word that a famous newspaper with a storied tradition will be purchased by a very rich guy who needs a new toy to play with. And yes, I just ended a sentence with a preposition. That’s how dead good writing is! Deal with it!
Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, bought the Washington Post for 250 million dollars. It’s not a takeover by Amazon because Bezos, one of the world’s wealthiest men, is buying it as an individual.
And yes, he got free shipping!
Bezos is famous for focusing on “the customer experience.” I can only guess that his experience as a Washington Post buyer was satisfactory, though I guess I’ll have to wait for the customer review to be certain. But one thing you won’t have to wait for is the pundit review. People who write opinions for a living have fallen on this story like a family of bears on the last picnic basket in the woods. They are tearing it apart because it features all the things they love – journalism, money, and … well, that’s about it.
My opinion hardly matters in all this, except to me. And that’s the point! This is the next logical step in the total disintegration of communications. Every person is now his or her own media empire. I suspect Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post because he didn’t have time to start his own blog. Look for someone richer to step up soon to buy The New York Times, and someone wealthier still to snap up CBS, NBC and finally Trail Baboon. Then it’s a total free-for-all!
Someday soon, when every news source is a vanity project beholden to a single personality, we will all be so busy filtering and interpreting information we won’t have time to actually know anything. And when that day comes, I won’t waste your time with an “I told you so.”
Instead, I’ll say “Welcome to my world.”
This is Bud Buck!
Who do you trust?
Trail Baboon 
I think Trail Baboon should buy Fox News. I’d trust the reporting then, although Dale would need at least a year and a big chainsaw to shape up the staff.
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TEEHEE! More than a hobby farm don’t you think?
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would I have to get a serious blonde dye job if I were to continue to guest blog?
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A manicure, I think. I’d need liposuction and a wig.
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That will seriously mess with my knitting. I’ll just accept my share of the residuals for what I’ve already written in that case 😉
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a frontal labodomy
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Rise and Shine Baboons!
Who do I trust? My dogs. If I have a treat they are faithful, wonderful canines until a rabbit happens by. The rest of the answer–different people for different things.
Car fixed? My husband who takes great care of such things.
Computer advice? My son who is knowlegible and available for such information.
And of course, everything I read on the internet must be true!
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great minds think alike jacque
dogs it is. and thats about it. other beings get their own issues interests involved and try to color their decisions with the desired results instead of the true stuff.
don shelby famous for the shelby knot is concerned that if he runs on the dfl ticket it will put an end to the perception that he can be a bipartisan journalist. i trust don, you kind of knew with the way he presented his stories that his coloration was not being influenced by the dark side.
the amazon guy, i don’t know at all. he may be don shelby with an empire. i remember when he first got started and he was making no money at all and he was trying to convionce the bankers to leave him alone because he was building market share and the profits would come later once he owned the world. good vision but i get concerned that amazon and china share the same vision. take over the world and sort out the details later.
i will drop my subscription to the new york times as soon as wal mart looks at a takeover.
i like bill gates foundation but i dont want the microsoft cbs television network
the apple new york yankees makes sense but lets not go there.
im not a wall street journal fan anyway but you hate to see journalism whored up with millionairres wanting a soapbox.
we were very lucky to have the coweles as the stewards of the star tribune for my years of news filtering. they were wonderful, today newspapers are challanged to compete with everything else out there and if amazon wants to blow their wad on a vanity newspaper project i guess thats what zillionaires do. what the hell its only 250 million. you couldnt even buy the twins for that. good luck richie rich have fun with you new toy. we will all buy books on amazon and think of your news headlines now.
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Trust me to interrupt this conversation with an excerpt from John Philip Sousa’s “Amazon.com March” and an invitation from VS.
Now that Mini-sota Donut Ice Cream is available, all baboons are invited to an Ice Cream Social on Sunday August 11th at 2 pm at the VS Ice Cream Parlor.
More details to follow!
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woo hoo
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Oh, BA, I am away this weekend at a family reunion. I will be there in spirit and maybe send my husband.
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Love that photo, Dale. I trust that’s not Jeff Bezos at the beginning of his career.
I trust some people most of the time, and most people some of the time. It all depends on who and what. This morning I have no choice but to trust the surgeon who is removing husband’s gallbladder as I write this. At 63, this is his first surgery ever, glad he’s easing into it with something relatively easy. I expect his home later today or tomorrow.
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expect him home, sheesh.
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I had that surgery a few years back and I was supposed to be home the same day. Instead they had to do “open” surgery instead of laparoscopic (sp?) so I was in the hospital for 5 days. Everyone else that I know who had the surgery had an easy, uncomplicated surgery and a quick, uncomplicated recovery. Here’s hoping for the latter for your husband, PJ.
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Edith-further proof you can’t trust those prison doctors
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The surgery went fine, but as is typical with male gallbladders his “was swollen from inflamation and filled with rocks that have been trying to make their way through the walls of the gallbladder.” They’re keeping him overnight to make sure that none have actually made it through. He’s a little confused (more than usual!) but I’m sure he’ll be much better by the time I go back to the hospital this evening. Should be coming home tomorrow by noon if all goes according to plan. Thanks for all the good wishes, much appreciated.
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That’s not a scary operation, PJ, and yet every surgery is scary up to a point. I hope you both can enjoy a little quiet time while he recovers.
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That’s what I’m told, Steve. We’re hoping for no complications and a speedy recovery, we have plans for this weekend!
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cant he time his body failure better? what an inconsiderate guy.
i have always said the difference between a major operation and a minor operation is that a major operation happens to me.
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Like Steve says, all surgery is, well, surgery. Best wishes to both of you. If you like, I can bring Kitten over- he is having surgery today too (very routine, and nothing any of you guys want to have 😉 ). I trust my vets absolutely.
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I have a terrier, so I can’t even trust my dog. Husband, yes. Parents, yes. Son and daughter, yes. That is about it. We got back from Denver last night. I had to put lots of trust in the zip line company that whooshed my daughter and husband down 6 ziplines from 8500 feet to the baseline. They had a great time. I was in the disabled gallery with my brother in law who is recovering from knee surgery.
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chicken
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Yes.
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Good morning. I guess everyone has their own take on things and no one has all the answers or is 100% trustworthy. I certainly think most of the news media is not trust worthy including all our usual news sources. They basically are supporters of the status quo and that isn’t a good status these days. I tend to trust people who I think are trying to change things for the better. Of course, I do sometimes find that even the change makers are not trust worthy.
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Interesting post! My Dad and I were just talking about the issue of trust. We were discussing the NSA’s wiretapping program. Dad used to be Army Radio Intercept in Korea. He said that he didn’t consider ‘listening in’ to be such a big issue because the North Koreans knew people like him were listening but were broadcasting messages to their troops anyway. I told him that was true but Dad wasn’t listening to his own side…and that’s kind of the difference. He acknowledged my point. We also agreed that with a preponderance on weapons (not just guns) available, let alone plenty of freedom to buy materials to make improvised but effective explosives, and with everyone with an axe to grind and the increasing willingness to kill people because they happen to disagree with you…it’s kind of like we’re all in a war zone all the time and everyone is potentially the enemy. As such, there is a fundamentally growing lack of trust in people in general. And, as such, even officials we were raised to trust…police, fire, even some political offices (remember when the President was really -the boss-?)…are not considered trustworthy any longer. And, as we see more and more news stories of abuses of power (real or imagined), it ~appears~ that lack of trust is completely justified. Sad…
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agreed
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Trust- I am not a terribly trusting person, with reason.
That said, I trust my son absolutely, he cannot lie to me. Now, when it comes to reliability, that is something else, but at least he is trying to work on that one.
I also have two most excellent friends, one from college and one from s&h’s day care days that I trust and rely on.
I’d also have to say the Congress of Baboons is pretty trustworthy, as far as you can trust anything online. I see at the bottom of my screen that 746 other amazing people are following this blog-most of you, I have no idea about, but I will give you a friendly, if nervous, wave.
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on another tangent:
What do we call it when we want to respond to a previous conversation that is now yesterday’s (or a couple of days ago’s) news.
I would propose OTT-off today’s topic, except that is also used for over-the-top.
But I digress-
tim, in no way was I suggesting that Steve get a cat or kitten. Steve should foster dogs. It is a great program as you get to pick and choose from the available fosterees who are described and given an approximate timeline of fostering, which means if you need to not be tied down to pet care, you just don’t take a foster at that time.
Professor Kitten (as I am now calling him) seems to have a real knack for letting little kitten trainees know that nipping hurts, and if you try it, expect to get your face chewed (but not enough to hurt you), which seems to teach them not to be the little biters Edith described. He is also good at showing them the best possible routes to jumping up on kitchen counters. We’ll see what happens after the jalepeno harvest. I plan to chop them up on the offending counter and letting the little menances prance about on it a bit immediately after I am done.
Musicians, you will appreciate the laugh I get out of the fact that our new little foster is named Dolce, and has a persistent raspy meow that sounds like a starling.
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My mother – I trust my mother implicitly. And my two best friends. If you can trust a friend to help you bury a body (and remember where it’s buried, but not divulge same), that’s a good friend. Husband is pretty trustworthy, but has been known to forget when something was supposed to remain secret (he’s a bit of an absent-minded professor). Daughter just shouldn’t have to deal with that sort of pressure yet at nine, though she is also a very trustworthy soul. My dog…well, he’s loyal, but I wouldn’t trust him with baked goods or cheese left too close to the edge of a table or counter, the aromatic temptation is just too strong for his hound nose.
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Wait…you have a friend who helped you bury a body and the same friend remembers where it is, but you trust him/her to not divulge it? And here I thought I was the only criminal on the Trail…and my crimes did not involve any burying of bodies.
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I won’t say anything that might be used against me later in court…
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That’s right, Anna. Some say their dog is the only one they can trust. No. Dogs can be tricky. I have know several dogs that were not very good about their toilet habits. i had to keep fairly close track of what they were doing and make sure they went out side very regularly to avoid having messes in the house. They more or less knew they should not go in the house, but didn’t mind leaving a mess to clean up if you didn’t pay close attention to them. Of course, you should never leave any tempting food are place where a dog can reach it.
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Just so you know, Jim, my last two dogs were so honorable they would not touch a steak left on a low coffee table. For what it’s worth, they were English setters, and they would rather kiss a cat than to do anything wrong.
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That’s hard for me to believe, Steve. I have never seen a dog that would not grab a tasty food item left unguarded. Well, I’m sure you are telling the truth. I will trust you regarding the honorable nature of your English setters. You wouldn’t lie to me about this, right?
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One time our family was sitting and talking when Spook, my first English setter, walked by. His body was bent in a slinking shape and his tail was way up between his legs . . . neither being normal for that happy, proud dog. Molly said, “Oh my god, look at Spook! He looks like he’s seen a ghost!” We tiptoed into the kitchen, which is where Spook had been. There was Kathe’s dog Tessie, a springer spaniel, with her face deep in the garbage, eating away. Spook not only would not snatch available treats, but the very sight of a dog disobeying the rules just shattered his buoyant disposition.
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I have absolute faith in troubled children and adolescents to do what they have to to get what they need, even if much of what they do makes no sense.
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good for you. its a crying out from an unspoken place.
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Whom do I trust? I trust you, Dale, and all the baboons here on the Trail to give me something worth reading nearly every day of the year.
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edith you have gone from having nothing worth saying a couple short months ago to being chatty patty here on the trail. hows is twins mom doing?
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She is doing okay, as well as can be expected for having been on strict bedrest since May 15 (think: bbbboooorrriiiiinnnnngggg. She not very comfortable, been having some pains – hopefully not the real thing yet, babies can’t swallow on their own yet. If she doesn’t have the babies before September 4, they will induce her then.
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Me, I’m dishonest, and you can always trust a dishonest man to be dishonest. Honestly, it’s the honest ones you have to watch out for.
– Johnny Depp
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everything i say is a lie
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like
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