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WaPo Defends Data Centers—With Few Disclosures That Amazon Depends on Them
| From | FAIR <[email protected]> |
| Subject | WaPo Defends Data Centers—With Few Disclosures That Amazon Depends on Them |
| Date | November 20, 2025 10:21 PM |
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WaPo Defends Data Centers—With Few Disclosures That Amazon Depends on Them Pete Tucker ([link removed])
Bloomberg: AI Data Centers Are Sending Power Bills Soaring
"AI Data Centers Are Sending Power Bills Soaring," Bloomberg (9/29/25 ([link removed]) ) reported—but that's not the story the Washington Post wants to tell.
US electricity prices, you may have noticed, keep going up ([link removed]) . And in some parts of the country, like here in the DC region, they’re soaring. In Virginia, for example, electricity rates are up 13% this year ([link removed]) , an issue Democrats highlighted ([link removed]) as they swept back into power in Richmond earlier this month.
Burgeoning electric bills also factored into Democrats’ November wins in New Jersey ([link removed]) and Georgia ([link removed]) . But let’s stick with Virginia for a moment, where energy-sucking data centers are so plentiful that if northern Virginia’s DC suburbs were to secede, the new country would have more data center capacity than China ([link removed]) .
As a result of these data centers, this new country would likely suffer from crippling electric bills. “Wholesale electricity [now] costs as much as 267% more than it did five years ago in areas near data centers. That’s being passed on to customers,” read a recent Bloomberg subhead.
The Bloomberg story (9/29/25 ([link removed]) )—headlined “AI Data Centers Are Sending Power Bills Soaring”—begins:
Data centers are proliferating in Virginia and a blind man in Baltimore is suddenly contending with sharply higher power bills. The Maryland city is well over an hour’s drive from the northern Virginia region known as Data Center Alley. But Kevin Stanley, a 57-year-old who survives on disability payments, says his energy bills are about 80% higher than they were about three years ago. “They’re going up and up,” he said. “You wonder, ‘What is your breaking point?’”
** Brewing outrage
------------------------------------------------------------
Heatmap: The Data Center Backlash Is Swallowing American Politics
Heatmap (11/6/25 ([link removed]) ): "The techlash over data center development is becoming a potent political force that could shape elections for generations."
If ever there was a story ripe for sustained coverage from the DC region’s paper of record, this is it. In the Washington Post’s own backyard, ratepayers like Stanley are being bilked out of billions of dollars ([link removed]) to pay for electrical grid upgrades that disproportionately benefit trillion-dollar companies seeking to win the AI race by powering up their ever-expanding fleet of data centers.
Northern Virginia’s unmatched density of data centers has made it the backbone of the internet ([link removed]) , through which 70% ([link removed]) of global internet traffic flows. (Northern Virginia also happens to be home to the Pentagon and CIA.)
The upward transfer of wealth ([link removed]) —from ratepayers to Big Tech—isn’t just happening in the DC region, but nationwide. And it has triggered an uprising that spans the country and crosses political boundaries.
“Nearly every week now across the US, from arid Tucson, Arizona, to the suburban sprawl of the DC area, Americans are protesting, rejecting, restricting or banning new data center development,” Heatmap (11/6/25 ([link removed]) ) reported.
This month’s elections—in which ties to data centers were an albatross for Republican incumbents with ties to the data center industry—showed this.
But readers get little sense of the brewing outrage from the pages of the Washington Post—which just happens to be owned by the founder of Amazon, a company at the forefront of the data center buildout, with plans on doubling its capacity by 2027 ([link removed]) .
** Failing journalistic basics
------------------------------------------------------------
CNBC: Amazon opens $11 billion AI data center in rural Indiana as rivals race to break ground
Amazon has invested massively in data centers (CNBC, 10/29/25 ([link removed]) ), with 216 currently operating ([link removed]) and more than 100 underway.
The Washington Post’s coverage isn’t just weak, it also often fails the most basic journalistic test by not disclosing Post owner Jeff Bezos’ ties to the company he founded three decades ago.
While Bezos stepped down as Amazon CEO in 2021, he remains the company’s executive chairman and its largest shareholder, with stock estimated to be worth over $200 billion. (Bezos purchased the Post in 2013 for $250 million, which is less than 1% of his Amazon holdings.)
And AI data centers are key to Amazon’s success. Meanwhile Bezos’s personal stake in AI extends even further, having invested in multiple AI companies, including the startup Project Prometheus, where Bezos recently named himself co-CEO ([link removed]) after providing part of the company’s $6.2 billion in initial funding.
The sums of money being thrown at AI are eye-popping, and nerve-wracking. Citing analysts at Morgan Stanley, the Wall Street Journal (11/16/25 ([link removed]) ) reported: “Big tech companies are expected to spend nearly $3 trillion on AI through 2028 but only generate enough cash to cover half that tab.”
** 'Not showing their connections'
------------------------------------------------------------
WaPo:
The Washington Post (10/15/25 ([link removed]) ) paints a voter as jumping to conclusions for saying that data centers should pay for the new electrical infrastructure they need: "Studies reach conflicting conclusions over the role of those data centers in everyone else’s rates.... But [Maureen] Harrison has made up her mind."
Ahead of this month’s elections, a Washington Post story (10/15/25 ([link removed]) ) questioned whether data centers were raising electricity costs. “Studies reach conflicting conclusions,” the Post reported, adding, “the experts are hardly bringing voters clarity.” (The Virginia state study ([link removed]) that the piece pointed to as defending the data center industry was quite clear that "data centers’ increased energy demand will likely increase system costs for all customers.") The story didn’t name Bezos or Amazon (except in the photo captions).
That same day, a Post editorial (10/15/25 ([link removed]) ) called the US military’s planned new generation of smaller nuclear reactors an “excellent idea…that can’t come fast enough.” Once again, neither Bezos or Amazon were named—even though, as David Folkenflik of NPR (10/28/25 ([link removed]) ) reported:
A year ago, Amazon bought a stake in X-energy to develop small nuclear reactors to power its data centers. And through his own private investment fund, Bezos has a stake in a Canadian venture seeking nuclear fusion technology.
The Post editorial page’s willingness to name Bezos and Amazon has “changed,” according to Miranda Spivack, a former Post reporter. Increasingly, “they’re not showing their connections to Amazon, and yet they’re opining on issues that directly effect Amazon,” Spivack told FAIR.
** Well-trodden path
------------------------------------------------------------
WaPo: There’s a reason electricity prices have been rising. And it’s not data centers.
Instead of the hundreds of data centers its boss's company is building, the Washington Post (10/25/25 ([link removed]) ) suggested you should instead blame "policies aimed at boosting clean energy."
Last month, the headline of another Washington Post story (10/25/25 ([link removed]) ) blared: “There’s a Reason Electricity Prices Are Rising. And It’s Not Data Centers.” The catchy story begins, “Over the past few months, Americans have looked aghast at their rising electricity bills…and found one clear scapegoat: data centers.” Once again, the Post omitted mention of Bezos and Amazon.
The story insisted that "more electricity demand can actually lower prices"—which is true, as long as your electrical system has excess capacity to meet the new demand. Once new infrastructure has to be built to accommodate demand, however, costs will rise—and that cost will be split between homeowners and other existing users, as well as the data centers.
A week later, a Post editorial (10/31/25 ([link removed]) )—headlined “New Jersey’s Next Governor Misunderstands Energy Prices”—scolded Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic nominee, for calling for a one-year “freeze” on New Jersey utility rates, which have jumped an incredible 22% since last year. “It’s unclear,” wrote the Post, “why politicians would be better at running a business than the people who currently do it.” (New Jersey voters apparently felt differently, delivering Sherrill a landslide 14-point win.)
“Forcing lower prices could mean delaying needed upgrades to energy infrastructure,” the Post continued, once again failing to mention either its owner or Amazon, which have a vested interest in ensuring costly upgrades are shouldered by New Jersey ratepayers, not tech behemoths like Amazon.
After the election, the Post (11/8/25 ([link removed]) ) noted that Democrats’ sweeping wins in northern Virginia came as “data centers seemed to be at the top of voters’ minds.” Yet a principal builder of those data centers, Amazon, went unnamed once again, as did Bezos.
The headline of another post-election analysis read, “Soaring electricity bills help flip state elections”; and the subhead read, “Data centers are spiking utility rates and angering voters.” But the Post column (11/19/25 ([link removed]) ) failed to name Bezos or Amazon (except, once again, in the photo captions).
These recent examples are only the latest steps on an increasingly well-trodden path.
** 'Part of something bigger'
------------------------------------------------------------
WaPo: Trump is off to a good start with an AI action plan
Washington Post (7/27/25 ([link removed]) ): "The most important question for the United States regarding artificial intelligence right now...is whether the US will maintain AI dominance."
This summer, a Washington Post editorial (7/27/25 ([link removed]) ) hailed President Trump’s investment in AI—without mentioning Bezos or Amazon.
In January, as Virginia state legislators weighed additional taxes and restrictions on data centers, the Post (1/18/25 ([link removed]) ) quoted a director from the Data Center Coalition who threw cold water on the idea. Listed among the “Executive Level” members on the coalition’s website is AWS, the highly profitable cloud computing arm of Amazon. But the Post story doesn’t name Amazon or its founder.
A Post story (9/17/24 ([link removed]) ) from last year also cited the Data Center Coalition without mentioning Amazon’s ties to the group. But any sins of omission in that story paled in comparison to sins of commission, as the Post spotlighted data center employees from across the country who found near religiosity in their work, giving the story the feel of a recruitment pitch, rather than journalism.
“It might sound nerdy, but I like completing the connections…. It gives me a sense of satisfaction,” a technician in San Jose told the Post. “What I’m working on is important," said a worker in Phoenix. "You feel a part of something bigger.” Meanwhile, in Oklahoma, a self-described tech nerd is said to have switched careers because of “the sheer excitement of stepping inside data centers.”
This last story at least disclosed the paper's connection to Bezos and Amazon.
** Whole-of-government gravy train
------------------------------------------------------------
New Yorker: If Jeff Bezos Makes Washington the Second Headquarters of Amazon
New Yorker (11/3/18 ([link removed]) ): "In July [2018], Jeff Bezos became the richest man in modern history, when his net worth topped $150 billion dollars." Seven years later, Bezos is the fourth-richest human ([link removed]) , with $230 billion; his old fortune would put him 9th on the list.
The bigger story here may be how thoroughly tech giants like Amazon have corrupted our country—and nowhere has this played out more visibly than in the DC region, although you wouldn’t know it from reading the Washington Post.
Despite being the “poster child ([link removed]) ” of a tax cheat, in 2017 Amazon nevertheless requested states pony up public goodies if they wanted to land the company’s second headquarters (CounterSpin, 10/25/17 ([link removed]) ; FAIR.org, 3/14/18 ([link removed]) ). And states did just that, even though Amazon had long eyed DC, owing to its billions of dollars ([link removed]) in contracts with the Pentagon, CIA and other federal agencies.
Another reason Amazon wanted to locate near the seat of power is because the federal government represents the greatest threat to the company’s continued dominance (at least it did until Trump reclaimed power and fired Lina Khan ([link removed]) , the trust-busting Federal Trade Commission chair).
“The only thing in between Amazon and $1 trillion and $2 trillion in market cap is regulation,” economist Scott Galloway told ([link removed]) the New Yorker back in 2018, when the company became the second one (after Apple) whose stock was worth a trillion dollars. “No one is going to regulate the gentleman throwing out the first pitch of the 2019 Washington Nationals season.” Amazon’s market cap today: $2.5 trillion.
While Virginia ponied up as much as $750 million ([link removed]) to “win” the HQ2 contest—much to the Post’s delight ([link removed]) —many of the promised high-paying jobs haven’t materialized ([link removed]) (and may never, as Amazon is busy firing “thousands of corporate workers as it spends big on AI”—NPR, 10/28/25 ([link removed]) ). This hasn’t meaningfully slowed Virginia’s whole-of-government gravy train, where everything from transportation ([link removed]
-dc-area-bezos-wapo-raises-few-objections/) to infrastructure ([link removed]) to education ([link removed] billion in state funding to Virginia universities aimed at,Virginia colleges and universities. %3C/) is tailored to Amazon’s needs.
Meanwhile, when Amazon returns even a fraction of the public dollars it has gobbled up, the Post (6/16/21 ([link removed]) ) celebrates the company’s generosity in headlines like “Amazon Will Help Fund 1,000 Affordable Housing Units Near Metro Stations.”
Less touted in the pages of the Post are Amazon’s strong-armed tactics. In its deals with Arlington County and the state of Virginia, Amazon not only gets millions of local tax dollars, but confidentiality clauses enable the company to weigh in on how officials respond to freedom of information requests regarding Amazon’s deals. The Post (3/15/19 ([link removed]) ) covered this issue, but by the next day the paper had moved on ([link removed]) .
** 'Always only about business'
------------------------------------------------------------
When Jeff Bezos purchased the Post over a decade ago, he said he was doing so out of a sense of civic duty. But that pretense died the moment Bezos personally spiked ([link removed]) the Post’s endorsement of Kamala Harris just before the 2024 election. In the year since, Bezos has only continued lavishing gifts on Trump, while also remaking the Post in Trump’s image ([link removed]) .
This serves Bezos’ business interests, which are paramount for him. “With Jeff, it’s always only about business,” a former employee of Bezos’ space company Blue Origin told the Post (10/30/24 ([link removed]) ) last year. “It’s business, period. That’s how he built Amazon. That’s how he runs all of his enterprises.”
Bezos simply isn’t going to let his newspaper get in the way of his business—and the Washington Post’s coverage of data centers shows that.
------------------------------------------------------------
ACTION ALERT: You can send a message to the Washington Post at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) (or via Bluesky: @washingtonpost.com ([link removed]) ).
Please remember that respectful communication is the most effective. Feel free to leave a copy of your message in the comments thread on FAIR.org ([link removed]) .
Read more ([link removed])
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View article on FAIR's website ([link removed])
WaPo Defends Data Centers—With Few Disclosures That Amazon Depends on Them Pete Tucker ([link removed])
Bloomberg: AI Data Centers Are Sending Power Bills Soaring
"AI Data Centers Are Sending Power Bills Soaring," Bloomberg (9/29/25 ([link removed]) ) reported—but that's not the story the Washington Post wants to tell.
US electricity prices, you may have noticed, keep going up ([link removed]) . And in some parts of the country, like here in the DC region, they’re soaring. In Virginia, for example, electricity rates are up 13% this year ([link removed]) , an issue Democrats highlighted ([link removed]) as they swept back into power in Richmond earlier this month.
Burgeoning electric bills also factored into Democrats’ November wins in New Jersey ([link removed]) and Georgia ([link removed]) . But let’s stick with Virginia for a moment, where energy-sucking data centers are so plentiful that if northern Virginia’s DC suburbs were to secede, the new country would have more data center capacity than China ([link removed]) .
As a result of these data centers, this new country would likely suffer from crippling electric bills. “Wholesale electricity [now] costs as much as 267% more than it did five years ago in areas near data centers. That’s being passed on to customers,” read a recent Bloomberg subhead.
The Bloomberg story (9/29/25 ([link removed]) )—headlined “AI Data Centers Are Sending Power Bills Soaring”—begins:
Data centers are proliferating in Virginia and a blind man in Baltimore is suddenly contending with sharply higher power bills. The Maryland city is well over an hour’s drive from the northern Virginia region known as Data Center Alley. But Kevin Stanley, a 57-year-old who survives on disability payments, says his energy bills are about 80% higher than they were about three years ago. “They’re going up and up,” he said. “You wonder, ‘What is your breaking point?’”
** Brewing outrage
------------------------------------------------------------
Heatmap: The Data Center Backlash Is Swallowing American Politics
Heatmap (11/6/25 ([link removed]) ): "The techlash over data center development is becoming a potent political force that could shape elections for generations."
If ever there was a story ripe for sustained coverage from the DC region’s paper of record, this is it. In the Washington Post’s own backyard, ratepayers like Stanley are being bilked out of billions of dollars ([link removed]) to pay for electrical grid upgrades that disproportionately benefit trillion-dollar companies seeking to win the AI race by powering up their ever-expanding fleet of data centers.
Northern Virginia’s unmatched density of data centers has made it the backbone of the internet ([link removed]) , through which 70% ([link removed]) of global internet traffic flows. (Northern Virginia also happens to be home to the Pentagon and CIA.)
The upward transfer of wealth ([link removed]) —from ratepayers to Big Tech—isn’t just happening in the DC region, but nationwide. And it has triggered an uprising that spans the country and crosses political boundaries.
“Nearly every week now across the US, from arid Tucson, Arizona, to the suburban sprawl of the DC area, Americans are protesting, rejecting, restricting or banning new data center development,” Heatmap (11/6/25 ([link removed]) ) reported.
This month’s elections—in which ties to data centers were an albatross for Republican incumbents with ties to the data center industry—showed this.
But readers get little sense of the brewing outrage from the pages of the Washington Post—which just happens to be owned by the founder of Amazon, a company at the forefront of the data center buildout, with plans on doubling its capacity by 2027 ([link removed]) .
** Failing journalistic basics
------------------------------------------------------------
CNBC: Amazon opens $11 billion AI data center in rural Indiana as rivals race to break ground
Amazon has invested massively in data centers (CNBC, 10/29/25 ([link removed]) ), with 216 currently operating ([link removed]) and more than 100 underway.
The Washington Post’s coverage isn’t just weak, it also often fails the most basic journalistic test by not disclosing Post owner Jeff Bezos’ ties to the company he founded three decades ago.
While Bezos stepped down as Amazon CEO in 2021, he remains the company’s executive chairman and its largest shareholder, with stock estimated to be worth over $200 billion. (Bezos purchased the Post in 2013 for $250 million, which is less than 1% of his Amazon holdings.)
And AI data centers are key to Amazon’s success. Meanwhile Bezos’s personal stake in AI extends even further, having invested in multiple AI companies, including the startup Project Prometheus, where Bezos recently named himself co-CEO ([link removed]) after providing part of the company’s $6.2 billion in initial funding.
The sums of money being thrown at AI are eye-popping, and nerve-wracking. Citing analysts at Morgan Stanley, the Wall Street Journal (11/16/25 ([link removed]) ) reported: “Big tech companies are expected to spend nearly $3 trillion on AI through 2028 but only generate enough cash to cover half that tab.”
** 'Not showing their connections'
------------------------------------------------------------
WaPo:
The Washington Post (10/15/25 ([link removed]) ) paints a voter as jumping to conclusions for saying that data centers should pay for the new electrical infrastructure they need: "Studies reach conflicting conclusions over the role of those data centers in everyone else’s rates.... But [Maureen] Harrison has made up her mind."
Ahead of this month’s elections, a Washington Post story (10/15/25 ([link removed]) ) questioned whether data centers were raising electricity costs. “Studies reach conflicting conclusions,” the Post reported, adding, “the experts are hardly bringing voters clarity.” (The Virginia state study ([link removed]) that the piece pointed to as defending the data center industry was quite clear that "data centers’ increased energy demand will likely increase system costs for all customers.") The story didn’t name Bezos or Amazon (except in the photo captions).
That same day, a Post editorial (10/15/25 ([link removed]) ) called the US military’s planned new generation of smaller nuclear reactors an “excellent idea…that can’t come fast enough.” Once again, neither Bezos or Amazon were named—even though, as David Folkenflik of NPR (10/28/25 ([link removed]) ) reported:
A year ago, Amazon bought a stake in X-energy to develop small nuclear reactors to power its data centers. And through his own private investment fund, Bezos has a stake in a Canadian venture seeking nuclear fusion technology.
The Post editorial page’s willingness to name Bezos and Amazon has “changed,” according to Miranda Spivack, a former Post reporter. Increasingly, “they’re not showing their connections to Amazon, and yet they’re opining on issues that directly effect Amazon,” Spivack told FAIR.
** Well-trodden path
------------------------------------------------------------
WaPo: There’s a reason electricity prices have been rising. And it’s not data centers.
Instead of the hundreds of data centers its boss's company is building, the Washington Post (10/25/25 ([link removed]) ) suggested you should instead blame "policies aimed at boosting clean energy."
Last month, the headline of another Washington Post story (10/25/25 ([link removed]) ) blared: “There’s a Reason Electricity Prices Are Rising. And It’s Not Data Centers.” The catchy story begins, “Over the past few months, Americans have looked aghast at their rising electricity bills…and found one clear scapegoat: data centers.” Once again, the Post omitted mention of Bezos and Amazon.
The story insisted that "more electricity demand can actually lower prices"—which is true, as long as your electrical system has excess capacity to meet the new demand. Once new infrastructure has to be built to accommodate demand, however, costs will rise—and that cost will be split between homeowners and other existing users, as well as the data centers.
A week later, a Post editorial (10/31/25 ([link removed]) )—headlined “New Jersey’s Next Governor Misunderstands Energy Prices”—scolded Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic nominee, for calling for a one-year “freeze” on New Jersey utility rates, which have jumped an incredible 22% since last year. “It’s unclear,” wrote the Post, “why politicians would be better at running a business than the people who currently do it.” (New Jersey voters apparently felt differently, delivering Sherrill a landslide 14-point win.)
“Forcing lower prices could mean delaying needed upgrades to energy infrastructure,” the Post continued, once again failing to mention either its owner or Amazon, which have a vested interest in ensuring costly upgrades are shouldered by New Jersey ratepayers, not tech behemoths like Amazon.
After the election, the Post (11/8/25 ([link removed]) ) noted that Democrats’ sweeping wins in northern Virginia came as “data centers seemed to be at the top of voters’ minds.” Yet a principal builder of those data centers, Amazon, went unnamed once again, as did Bezos.
The headline of another post-election analysis read, “Soaring electricity bills help flip state elections”; and the subhead read, “Data centers are spiking utility rates and angering voters.” But the Post column (11/19/25 ([link removed]) ) failed to name Bezos or Amazon (except, once again, in the photo captions).
These recent examples are only the latest steps on an increasingly well-trodden path.
** 'Part of something bigger'
------------------------------------------------------------
WaPo: Trump is off to a good start with an AI action plan
Washington Post (7/27/25 ([link removed]) ): "The most important question for the United States regarding artificial intelligence right now...is whether the US will maintain AI dominance."
This summer, a Washington Post editorial (7/27/25 ([link removed]) ) hailed President Trump’s investment in AI—without mentioning Bezos or Amazon.
In January, as Virginia state legislators weighed additional taxes and restrictions on data centers, the Post (1/18/25 ([link removed]) ) quoted a director from the Data Center Coalition who threw cold water on the idea. Listed among the “Executive Level” members on the coalition’s website is AWS, the highly profitable cloud computing arm of Amazon. But the Post story doesn’t name Amazon or its founder.
A Post story (9/17/24 ([link removed]) ) from last year also cited the Data Center Coalition without mentioning Amazon’s ties to the group. But any sins of omission in that story paled in comparison to sins of commission, as the Post spotlighted data center employees from across the country who found near religiosity in their work, giving the story the feel of a recruitment pitch, rather than journalism.
“It might sound nerdy, but I like completing the connections…. It gives me a sense of satisfaction,” a technician in San Jose told the Post. “What I’m working on is important," said a worker in Phoenix. "You feel a part of something bigger.” Meanwhile, in Oklahoma, a self-described tech nerd is said to have switched careers because of “the sheer excitement of stepping inside data centers.”
This last story at least disclosed the paper's connection to Bezos and Amazon.
** Whole-of-government gravy train
------------------------------------------------------------
New Yorker: If Jeff Bezos Makes Washington the Second Headquarters of Amazon
New Yorker (11/3/18 ([link removed]) ): "In July [2018], Jeff Bezos became the richest man in modern history, when his net worth topped $150 billion dollars." Seven years later, Bezos is the fourth-richest human ([link removed]) , with $230 billion; his old fortune would put him 9th on the list.
The bigger story here may be how thoroughly tech giants like Amazon have corrupted our country—and nowhere has this played out more visibly than in the DC region, although you wouldn’t know it from reading the Washington Post.
Despite being the “poster child ([link removed]) ” of a tax cheat, in 2017 Amazon nevertheless requested states pony up public goodies if they wanted to land the company’s second headquarters (CounterSpin, 10/25/17 ([link removed]) ; FAIR.org, 3/14/18 ([link removed]) ). And states did just that, even though Amazon had long eyed DC, owing to its billions of dollars ([link removed]) in contracts with the Pentagon, CIA and other federal agencies.
Another reason Amazon wanted to locate near the seat of power is because the federal government represents the greatest threat to the company’s continued dominance (at least it did until Trump reclaimed power and fired Lina Khan ([link removed]) , the trust-busting Federal Trade Commission chair).
“The only thing in between Amazon and $1 trillion and $2 trillion in market cap is regulation,” economist Scott Galloway told ([link removed]) the New Yorker back in 2018, when the company became the second one (after Apple) whose stock was worth a trillion dollars. “No one is going to regulate the gentleman throwing out the first pitch of the 2019 Washington Nationals season.” Amazon’s market cap today: $2.5 trillion.
While Virginia ponied up as much as $750 million ([link removed]) to “win” the HQ2 contest—much to the Post’s delight ([link removed]) —many of the promised high-paying jobs haven’t materialized ([link removed]) (and may never, as Amazon is busy firing “thousands of corporate workers as it spends big on AI”—NPR, 10/28/25 ([link removed]) ). This hasn’t meaningfully slowed Virginia’s whole-of-government gravy train, where everything from transportation ([link removed]
-dc-area-bezos-wapo-raises-few-objections/) to infrastructure ([link removed]) to education ([link removed] billion in state funding to Virginia universities aimed at,Virginia colleges and universities. %3C/) is tailored to Amazon’s needs.
Meanwhile, when Amazon returns even a fraction of the public dollars it has gobbled up, the Post (6/16/21 ([link removed]) ) celebrates the company’s generosity in headlines like “Amazon Will Help Fund 1,000 Affordable Housing Units Near Metro Stations.”
Less touted in the pages of the Post are Amazon’s strong-armed tactics. In its deals with Arlington County and the state of Virginia, Amazon not only gets millions of local tax dollars, but confidentiality clauses enable the company to weigh in on how officials respond to freedom of information requests regarding Amazon’s deals. The Post (3/15/19 ([link removed]) ) covered this issue, but by the next day the paper had moved on ([link removed]) .
** 'Always only about business'
------------------------------------------------------------
When Jeff Bezos purchased the Post over a decade ago, he said he was doing so out of a sense of civic duty. But that pretense died the moment Bezos personally spiked ([link removed]) the Post’s endorsement of Kamala Harris just before the 2024 election. In the year since, Bezos has only continued lavishing gifts on Trump, while also remaking the Post in Trump’s image ([link removed]) .
This serves Bezos’ business interests, which are paramount for him. “With Jeff, it’s always only about business,” a former employee of Bezos’ space company Blue Origin told the Post (10/30/24 ([link removed]) ) last year. “It’s business, period. That’s how he built Amazon. That’s how he runs all of his enterprises.”
Bezos simply isn’t going to let his newspaper get in the way of his business—and the Washington Post’s coverage of data centers shows that.
------------------------------------------------------------
ACTION ALERT: You can send a message to the Washington Post at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) (or via Bluesky: @washingtonpost.com ([link removed]) ).
Please remember that respectful communication is the most effective. Feel free to leave a copy of your message in the comments thread on FAIR.org ([link removed]) .
Read more ([link removed])
Share this post: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="[link removed]" title="Twitter"><img border="0" height="15" width="15" src="[link removed]" title="Twitter" alt="Twitter" class="mc-share"></a>
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