Unfit to Print

I, too, am relinquishing my post at the Washington Post.
​By Zach Hively

We need all the light we can get in these times. Unfortunately, I’m no longer shining one.
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Quite the opposite. I’m turning one more light off: I hereby resign as a contributor to the Washington Post, whose editorial board has yet again neglected to publish my opinions in their once-proud newspaper.

Ignorance of my work is no excuse for the editorial board. Neither, if you ask me, is the allegation that I have yet to submit any work for consideration.

This is a simple case of quid pro quo—or it should be, since mutual back-scratching is fast replacing a free press as the fourth estate in this land that I love.

Follow the bouncing ball: The Washington Post is owned by billionaire American Jeff Bezos, who undoubtedly made most of his fortune from newspaper subscriptions and paper delivery routes. Now that he’s hemorrhaging subscribers and drones are delivering the remaining few physical papers, he must rely on sale of goods from his side hustle to stay afloat.

Now I can’t claim to be the reason that Amazon the website will outlast Amazon the rainforest. But I have dedicated a portion of revenue from at least two copies of my book to the company’s bottom line, plus more than one subscribe-and-save order of dish sponges.

That adds up to, mathematically speaking, a non-zero contribution to keeping the Washington Post afloat longer than some other newspapers I’m still waiting to hear back from. And that doesn’t even tally up the personal information that Amazon has curated for its own gain, which if nothing else ought to inform the algorithm that my writing is ready and waiting for syndication.

But apparently money can’t buy ink these days—an election, maybe, or some well-curried favor, but not one measly weekly column in a paper with dwindling but still international distribution.
I was not even going to criticize my boss’ boss’ boss and his other billionaire buddies! At least not right away! I was going to leave that for the editorial cartoonists. Alas, now even they are getting shut down for leaning too heavily on that word “editorial.” (Picking up the slack from the editorial board, I guess.) This must be why job descriptions in journalism tend to include that catch-all other duties and obeisance as required.

So it is my sad duty to inform you, dear readers, that I have not changed my mind. The Post has forced my hand, and I have my own moral code to consider—a code that demands I place the First Amendment first—a code that believes journalism can and should rise above partisan positions to keep a citizenry as well-informed as its own media literacy will allow—a code that says “quit before you even try”—a code that, above all, means I really should stick by my words, no matter how unfit to print.
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That’s why, if nothing else, I can begrudge the Washington Post its honesty: it keeps doing its damndest to turn out light after light so that democracy can die, as promised, in darkness.