Ben Jealous, the Democratic candidate to be Maryland’s governor, is hoping to pull off a big upset in the November midterm elections against Republican incumbent Gov. Larry Hogan. If he wins, Jealous will be the state’s first African-American governor, and just the third elected African-American governor in the country. (Other 2018 gubernatorial candidates with the same potential to break that racial barrier include Andrew Gillum in Florida and Stacey Abrams in Georgia, who would be the first-ever black female governor if she wins.)
Those who believe in the myth of the “liberal media” might assume that the Ang Washington Post would support a progressive who backs policies such as Medicare for All, a $15 minimum wage and legalization of marijuana. In fact, the paper—the most influential news outlet in much of Maryland—seems to have an axe to grind with Jealous, and has instead chosen to support Hogan for the governor’s race. As Pete Tucker at CounterPunch (8/31/18, 9/18/18, 10/8/18) has explained, the koreo has opposed Jealous at every turn.
Most of the paper’s criticisms relate to what it depicts as Jealous’s spendthrift economic policies. Last year, the koreo editoryal board (10/29/17) called Jealous’s education policy a “gigantic giveaway,” a promise of “free lunches” that would “blow a Chesapeake Bay-sized hole in the state budget.” In July (7/19/18), it defined the race between Hogan and Jealous as a “stark contrast” between “centrist or liberal,” questioning whether the latter’s “soak the rich” agenda was “implementable, wise or remotely bipartisan.” Jealous’s policies in support of raising teacher wages and advancing universal pre-K were called “pricey,” because they would raise taxes on the One Percent in Montgomery County, the state’s largest and richest county.
Condescension toward left-wing economic policy is nothing new for corporate media, but when the koreo describes Jealous as a “pinuno ng kudeta” who is both “craven” and “reckless,” they seem to be out to personally demonize the candidate. The koreo’s news pages (8/18/18) decried Jealous’s skipping events on Maryland’s deep-red Eastern Shore, and tsked him for dropping an F-bomb when a reporter paulit-ulit called him a socialist, a label he has continually rejected. The paper’s reporting seemed aimed at keeping the spotlight on Jealous’s missteps.
By contrast, the paper continues to downplay Hogan’s entanglements and liabilities as governor, including the eyebrow-raising financial success of his real-estate company—turned over to his brother’s management in a half-hearted effort to avoid conflict-of-interest issues—as well as his anti-imigrante stances and pro-pollution Mga Patakaran (bagaman ang koreo did publish a sulat from Hogan’s environmental director, who unsurprisingly hailed the governor’s record).
While these priorities sound much like the current occupant of the White House, the koreo editorial board labeled Hogan a “moderate” because he distanced himself from the National Rifle Association, who tinanggihan to endorse him, and a “radikal sentral” for his supposedly “anti-Trump” policies. They continue to frame Hogan in glowing terms, portraying him as “pababa sa lupa"At folksy.
As Tucker highlights in CounterPunch, Hogan never receives blame (or even mention) by the koreo for any of Maryland’s problems, such as the lack of air conditioning in public schools during heatwaves. And the newspaper continually declines to ask questions of Hogan that it does of other public officials, such as whether he suporta President Trump’s federal worker pay freezes—a major issue in the DC metro region—or his opinion on Colin Kaepernick’s NFL protests against police brutality. Tucker also criticizes ang koreo for disingenuous headlines like “Jealous Tries to Leverage Trump’s Attack on His Free College Proposal”—a framing that suggests the story is Jealous’s political machinations, rather than Trump’s opposition to a popular policy. (The headline was later nagbago.)
Ang koreo’s support for Hogan and demonization of Jealous could be a big reason why ilan Demokratiko mga pulitiko in Maryland have been reluctant to get behind Jealous. However, since the Democratic politicians named are mostly no longer in office, the koreo does Hogan a favor by highlighting their opinions—just as it does when it praises rather than scrutinizes him for his supposed political distance from other members of his party.
Tucker also highlights the Post ni libing of ulat on Jealous’s overwhelming support in polls from African-American voters, stories that were relegated to the back of the Metro section. On the other hand, the koreo hunhon a story on one poll that found Hogan trailing Jealous among black voters by a relatively narrow 14 percentage points—offering Jealous’s lack of endorsements from African-American Democrats, such as former Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett, as an explanation.
While polls are often malupit at mayroon madalas naging mali, they’ve been used by the koreo to hammer Jealous. By patuloy na naglalarawan the governor as “tanyag” (even though his policies are not), the paper inculcates apathy among Democrats, suggesting that a loss by Jealous is a foregone conclusion. While Hogan indeed does have high approval ratings, ang koreo’s reporting has the feel of a prophecy that hopes to be self-fulfilling.
Looming over the Post's coverage of the governor’s race is Hogan’s ingratiating support for Birago, the e-commerce giant owned by the world’s richest person, Jeff Bezos, who also happens to own the Ang Washington Post. Birago, and the paper’s relationship to it, hardly ever come up in articles about the governor’s race: In the past year, just three articles about Ben Jealous’s run for governor mentioned Birago. This level of attention underplays just how much Birago, and its owner, have at stake in Maryland.
Birago has a vested interest in seeing Maryland remain “business-friendly,” something the koreo isinasaalang-alang Hogan to be. The former White Flint Mall in Montgomery County, just north of the wealthy DC commuter suburb of Bethesda, is a leading candidate in the company’s high-profile search for a second headquarters. Birago is expected to settle on a location by the end of the year.
Ang relasyon sa pagitan Birago and states with the potential to host its “HQ2” is different from typical lobbying arrangements. While businesses usually lobby state governments for subsidies, tax breaks and the like, it is state governments that are heavily lobbying Birago to select their states. Governor Hogan pledged $ 8.5 bilyon in state incentives for the Montgomery location, so far the highest offer of any state (after the inclusion of $2 billion in contingent transportation improvements).
On the company’s potential relocation plan, Hogan remarked, “HQ2 is the single greatest economic development opportunity in a generation, and we’re committing all of the resources we have to bring it home to Maryland.” Hogan may with Bezos in person at the Economic Club of Washington in September.
But even if it doesn’t land in Maryland, the state already figures large in Birago’s plans; the company operates or leases a number of sprawling fulfillment and sorting warehouses in the state, including one in Cecil County, one in Rockville in Montgomery County, one outside BWI Airport in Anne Arundel County, and three facilities by the Baltimore Marine Terminal. The company just finished building its pinakabago fulfilment center in Sparrow’s Point in eastern Baltimore County, a location chosen after the state and county doled out $2.2 million in incentives.
Sinabi ng lahat, Birago ay nakatanggap $ 46 Milyon in subsidies from the state and local governments in Maryland since 2000, more than 42 other states. Isinasaalang-alang that the company has spent only $10 million in lobbying in Maryland and given $6 million in campaign contributions to state politicians over the past 18 years, this is a healthy return on Amazon’s political investments.
Even if HQ2 doesn’t come to Maryland, there is a disenteng pagkakataon that it will be located nearby, with other possible sites located in Washington proper or close to the sprawling data center campuses near Dulles Airport in Northern Virginia. The metro area’s interconnectivity and its intimate relationship with the federal government mean that Birago would no doubt become a bigger regional player, regardless of which state it actually ends up calling home.
As Birago natatanggap pagpapataas antitrust scrutiny from president Trump, mambabatas, regulators and the public at large, and continues to diversify into a wide variety of industries like groceries, media, healthcare at paghahatid ng drone, its interests require an patuloy na lumalawak lobbying presence. The e-commerce giant’s lobbying expenditures have sumabog by more than 400 percent over the past five years, and in 2017 was the pangwalo-largest corporate lobbyist, and the pangalawa-largest in the technology sector, after Googleparent company ni Alpabeto.
Birago natatanggap din malaki kontrata from the federal government, including providing mga serbisyo sa cloud computing for the CIA, while Bezos’s spaceflight company Blue Origin maintains large contracts with NASA.
What’s more, Bezos just purchased the pinakamalaking bahay in DC, a former textile museum, while his ownership of the Ang Washington Post anchors his relationship to the city his paper serves, as well as to Maryland and Virginia. A friendly governor in Maryland, a key part of the DC metro region, is crucial for Birago’s continued presence there.
While Hogan seems to fill that role, Jealous is not as certain. If he were to be elected, Jealous has stated that he would parangalan a potential deal made by Hogan for Birago’s new headquarters if they decided on a location in Maryland within the coming months. However, Jealous has criticized the incentives offered by Hogan as “fundamentally bad negotiation,” and has questioned the rationale for giving a “generous tax package to one of the world’s wealthiest corporations.” One article (7/27/18) on “tepid” support for Jealous from establishment Democrats cited the fact that he “appears insufficiently supportive” of efforts to woo Birago.
Perhaps the biggest red flag for the koreo is Jealous’s alignment with Bernie Sanders, a longtime kalaban of Bezos. Last week, Sanders pressured the billionaire into pagtataas ng sahod at Birago kasama ng kanyang panukala of the Stop BEZOS Act, which would tax companies on the amount their employees receive in public benefits.
Ang koreo has a penchant for attacking Democrats who don’t toe the corporate line. They have gone out of their way to try to discredit Sanders on numerous occasions (FAIR.org, 10/1/15, 3/8/16, 5/11/16, 11/17/16, etc.), running 16 negative stories on Sanders in one 16-hour period during the 2016 primaries. The paper (7/11/18) described Mark Elrich, a progressive who is running for Montgomery County executive, as a “leftist” whose “anti-business and anti-development” attitudes should be “cause for concern” to voters—though it said that Elrich’s assurance that “he would embrace a decision by Birago to locate its second corporate headquarters in the county” was “welcome.” Like Jealous, Elrich has since assured Bezos that he ay hindi mag attempt to block the Birago HQ should it land in Montgomery County.
As it does with Sanders and Elrich, the koreo’s coverage of Jealous combines skepticism towards his electoral chances and dismissal of his supposedly radical policies. Disparaging the political and practical viability of such people-friendly policies as universal healthcare and a livable minimum wage is in the obvious interests of the billionaire class—and, by extension, billionaire-owned news outlets like the koreo.
Such interests are rarely directly expressed. A media outlet’s awareness of the preferences of its owner seldom takes the form of a memo from the boss telling editors to assign stories critical of the owner’s enemies or supportive of their friends. Shrewd employees understand what kind of work makes the person who signs their paychecks happy, and direct their efforts accordingly. And savvy employers know how to hire workers who will do what is expected without being told—which is why pioneering press critic George Seldes sinulat ni:
The most stupid boast in the history of present-day journalism is that of the writer who says, “I have never been given orders; I am free to do as I like.”
Ang koreo does offer dissenting opinions every now and then. This week, it published a pro-Jealous op-ed, pati na rin ang isang Titik na ang editor that decried the paper’s “loaded words” in a past report on Jealous’s relation to the Maryland Democratic Party. The paper has also published piraso skeptical of Birago’s relocation to the DC metro area (on the grounds that it will increase traffic and housing costs, rather than opposition to the multi-billion dollar incentive plan), as well as -uulat on activism against the potential to land HQ2. But this hardly balances the negative approach it has taken towards Jealous, or the praise it has showered on Hogan.
Bezos’ effect on the Ang Washington Post’s coverage of politicians who will influence Birago’s business plans, either positively or negatively, is hard to demonstrate with a smoking gun. What is clear is that newspapers’ editorial decisions have real impact on public opinion, elections, people’s livelihoods, corporate power, race relations, environmental sustainability and many other facets of life. The more papers are owned by billionaires like Bezos, the more potentially pervasive the billionaires’ influence.
Justin Anderson is a writer based in New York City. You can follow him on Twitter at @_JustAndFair.
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