More interesting is the discreet silence among all the media analysts about the obvious question: how long until the Sulzberger family follows the Graham family (who followed the Bancroft family in selling the Wall Street Journal) in selling the New York Times while it's still worth something?
| If the Grahams would have sold the Post in 2002 they would have received about $2 billion. The accumulated interest today would be another billion. Compare to the $250 million they received last week. |
Does anyone really think the Graham family wanted to sell the Post? Of course not. It was the cornerstone of their social status and clout.
| $3 billion buys a lot of social status and clout. Ask Warren Buffett. |
(As Post columnist Ruth Marcus put it without the slightest trace of self-awareness: "Their identity is so inextricably bound up with that of the newspaper, and the newspaper with that of the Graham family, it is -- or at least it was until Monday afternoon -- unimaginable to consider the two as separate entities." Also this: "My e-mail has been buzzing, my phone ringing, with family, friends, government officials, asking the same question: Are you okay? They don't mean economically. They mean emotionally. The answer: Not really." Yes, Ruth, because it's all about you. Also: sympathetic e-mails from "government officials"? Yeah, we're not cozy with our sources here at the Post, are we Ruth? That's some real adversarial journalism for ya.) |