Amazon Prime Documentary Cements Decision to Cancel Amazon Prime

Editor’s Note: Nashville writer/musician Scott Ramminger has cancelled his Amazon Prime subscription because Amazon owner Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post, is interfering with the paper’s editorial policies, including “spiking” an editorial endorsing Kamala Harris vs. Donald Trump. We’re pleased to present Ramminger’s letter to Bezos explaining his actions. 

How Amazon Prime Documentary Cemented My Decision to Cancel Amazon Prime

by Scott Ramminger

Here’s an e-mail I sent to Jeff Bezos cancelling my Prime subscription due to his meddling with the “Washington Post” and change of heart on President Trump.

 Jeff@amazon.com

 Dear Mr. Bezos,

I’m cancelling my Amazon Prime membership — and will avoid Amazon whenever possible.  My decision has nothing to do with the Prime service.  It’s a vote with my feet over your decision to assert your control over the Editorial Page of “The Washington Post,” an event which coincided conveniently with your seeming change of heart about President Donald Trump.

Since you already have some $227 billion (at least before the recent stock market tumble)  I doubt the lack of the $139 a year I spend on my Prime membership will make that much difference to you. But stopping my Prime membership and avoiding buying things from Amazon is what I’ve got at the moment.

How’s this for irony?  Watching “Becoming Katherine Graham,” a documentary on Amazon Prime, cemented my decision.

The film, which you should watch if you haven’t, delves into the enormous pressure that Ms. Graham faced from the Nixon administration over both the “Post’s” publication of the Pentagon Papers and groundbreaking reporting on Watergate. During that period, the “Post” depended heavily on the profitability of several television stations it owned.  The licenses for these stations were up for review by the FCC, and the Nixon administration was making noises about blocking the license renewals.  Loss of the licenses could have sunk the entire Post organization. Katherine Graham stood firm despite tremendous pressure from many sides.  The rest, as they say, is history.

That got me thinking.  What would Bezos do if faced with similar pressure?

Based on your meddling in the Editorial Page and your apparent change of position on President Trump once he won, I didn’t like my answer to that question.

Despite your early criticism of President Trump, you donated money to his inauguration. You went down to Mar-a-Lago and met with the President and Elon.  And you were in a prominent place at the inauguration, right next to fellow tech billionaires Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai, and Musk.

I’m a moderate. I believe in free enterprise. I think the government could and should be more efficient.  I worked in DC for almost 40 years for organizations that sought to influence the government on behalf of various industries.  I spent the last 18 years as CEO of two such organizations. I was a Republican most of that time.  I understand a bit about how DC works.  I’ve watched big companies donate money after the fact to successful candidates they had previously not supported. “Well, we’re going to have to work with this guy, so we better find a way to make nice with him/her.”

But this is different. You are certainly not the only titan of industry who had a convenient change of heart on President Trump once he got elected.  I’m not happy with any of them either — or with those who supported President Trump all along.  However, you own “The Washington Post,” one of the most important newspapers in the country.  And as I recall, when you bought the “Post,” you promised not to interfere with the editorial side of the paper.

Beyond that, President Trump is like no President in our history.  I truly believe that President Trump and the cronies he’s brought with him to DC are the single biggest threat to our democracy and the American way of life that has occurred in my lifetime. His kissing up to Putin, his treatment of Zelensky, Elon’s untethered rampage. The moral bankruptcy.  What more do you need? If you need evidence of the damage President Trump and his minions are doing to the country and the free world, I suggest you spend more time reading your own paper.

“The Washington Post” has a special place in my heart.  It’s brave reporting encouraged me to study journalism in college.  And though I quickly veered into DC flakery, I always — even in my most conservative days — remained a huge champion of a free press and free speech in general.  I was uneasy when you purchased the “Post,” largely because it looked like a DC power grab as much as anything.  And because I understand the power the government could exert over the more financially significant parts of your business.  I fear my nervousness was justified.

I hope you don’t interfere in the “Post’s” news coverage. But if a “Post” reporter annoys the President to the point that you are threatened with the loss of a fat Amazon Web Services government contract — or with some other “punishment” the President decides to hand out — I’m far from certain that you won’t cave and order a story spiked.

I further hope you reconsider your position on the “Post’s” Editorial Page — or sell the “Post” to someone who will allow it to operate independently.  Finally, I hope that as President Trump’s intent becomes clearer, you will cease your support of him.   You are in a position of influence.

If those things happen,  I’ll consider reinstating my subscription to Amazon Prime.

If this e-mail got to you, I thank you for taking the time to read it and for considering my views.

Sincerely,

Scott Ramminger