ROGER SIMON: Behind Jeff Bezos’ Changes at Washington Post.

One of the myths of our time is that there is such a thing as “evenhanded journalism.” It doesn’t exist since written by humans, all of whom are biased to one degree or another. (I believe the WaPo’s vaunted Woodward and Bernstein are responsible for institutionalizing bias in journalism—but that’s a subject for another article.)

Which leads me to what I think may be Bezos’ thinking beyond a gradual, but inexorable shift in his political views that appears to be quite genuine.

He and Elon Musk are the great business geniuses of our era so it’s worth paying attention to both. Both made their extraordinary fortunes not by inheriting them but executing brilliant concepts with unremitting hard work.

Bezos gives us a hint of his thinking in his conclusion on X:

“I’m confident that free markets and personal liberties are right for America. I also believe these viewpoints are underserved in the current market of ideas and news opinion. I’m excited for us together to fill that void.”

Underserved? Fill a void? What does he mean? What about the venerable Wall Street Journal, among the most important and read newspapers in our country, if not in the world? What could be more free markets than that?

My guess, and likely some of yours, is that Bezos has been paying attention to the family succession struggle at News Corp. that controls the WSJ, the NY Post and Fox News and therefore the ideology of those outlets.

Here’s what Google’s AI had to say about it (no, that’s not necessarily impartial either):

“Rupert Murdoch’s family battle with his children involves a dispute over the family trust that controls the Murdoch media empire. The battle centers on Lachlan Murdoch’s desire to become the sole heir and control the companies, and his father’s attempts to make that happen.”

Lachlan is the conservative older son who wishes to preserve the old Fox empire while his brothers, conventional Manhattan liberals, want to water it down to something approximating CNN-lite.

As Google’s AI concludes under “What’s at stake”:

“If Rupert doesn’t succeed in making Lachlan the sole heir, the conservative media empire he built could be a risk.

“The battle could also determine the future of Fox News.”

So far the courts have not looked favorably on Rupert’s request to change the family trust. Auguries are not good.

This will make for a large gap that only Newsmax is currently filling on cable—and, surprisingly successful as they are, they are still not close to News Corp. in reach.

Has this potential opening been lost on a businessman Bezos’ perspicacity? I’d throw away my trusty Kindle if it had. I repeat this is not to disparage the Amazon founder’s genuine change of views in anyway. Since I made a similar change some time ago, I would never do that. It is just to point out that what he is doing makes long-term business sense as well.

In the short run he will hemorrhage staff and, so we are told, readers. But the Washington Post was already having its problems and making little impact outside the Beltway. The way things are going under Trump, there will soon be fewer Beltway readers anyway.

Bezos, as we know from his worldwide company selling practically everything practically everywhere, does not think small. He obviously has a national, perhaps international, newspaper in mind.

The writer(s) of the Wall Street Journal’s opinion column sound pleased by Bezos’ change of heart: The Washington Post’s Freedom Turn. “We welcome the intellectual company. These days it can be lonely as a rare voice for free speech and economic liberty. Political and media fashion has shifted toward industrial policy and income redistribution, and even the Republican Party has too often come to favor government intervention in economic decisions between consenting adults. We’ll see if Mr. Bezos’s turn signals a larger change in the battle of ideas. But it will be good to have a wingman in the fight. As for our discerning readers, our respectful counsel is: Accept no substitutes. Sample the competition but come back for the real thing.”

UPDATE: Christian Toto asks: Will the Real Jeff Bezos Please Stand Up? Amazon founder’s plea for personal liberties at odds with company’s censorship.