Oh Waah! Ezra Klein Ditches WaPo After $10 Million Idea Rejected

Guest Post by Mara Zebest

Ezra Klein appears to be throwing a tantrum and rumor is he is looking to leave WaPo after failing to get his way. Klein floated an idea that would cost WaPo somewhere in the eight figures to implement. It almost sounds like he had an idea for a website something akin to the cost of implementing the Obamacare website—with no guarantees of success. WaPo respectfully declined his tiresome idea.

The problem with Liberals is that they never learn they are NOT special, and they are NOT actually entitled to everything they want. Ezra is leaving to possibly spite WaPo (and essentially cutting off his own nose to spite his face). Liberal ideas don’t work and they only succeed when subsidized by a bubble of Liberalism which is often subsidized (by force) via the taxpayer. Even Liberal cable networks are floundering with CNN in a 20-year low (although CNN is still doing better than MSNBC). So let’s see how well Ezra’s idea works in the private sector.

A flashback clip of Ezra getting schooled on economics may be apropos…

When reading between the lines of the NYTimes article spin, it’s almost as if WaPo is telling Ezra “Don’t let the door hit you in the backside on the way out.” Also note the last article statement (below) that describes the incestuous relationship which explains why the Times is bothering to cover this story.

The NY Times reports the following:

Ezra Klein, an analyst, columnist and television commentator who runs The Washington Post’s Wonkblog, is making plans to leave the newspaper after failing to win support for a new website he wanted to create within the company, according to four people with knowledge of the negotiations.

Mr. Klein, who quickly ascended into the ranks of the Washington media establishment with a multiplatform blend of policy nuance and number-crunching on Wonkblog, approached Katharine Weymouth, the Post’s publisher, in recent weeks, the people said.

After consultation with the newspaper’s editor, Marty Baron, according to one of the people, he put forward a proposal with detailed revenue projections to build a new website dedicated to explanatory journalism on a wide range of topics beyond political policy. It would have been affiliated with The Post, the person said, but would have been a separate enterprise. The investment he sought, the person said, was in eight figures. 

Ms. Weymouth and the paper’s owner, Jeff Bezos, declined to support the project. Since then, Mr. Klein has had discussions with several potential investors and venture capitalists in an effort to start the website himself, said those with knowledge of his plans, who insisted on anonymity in discussing them.

Though the atmosphere within The Post was described as civilized, one person said, there has been some awkwardness. Still, it is possible that Mr. Klein could remain at The Post if talks about his plans were rekindled.

As 2013 drew to a close, Neil Irwin, the economics editor of Wonkblog, joined The New York Times. Mr. Klein has been on vacation in San Francisco. Both declined to comment, as did The Washington Post.

The Washington Post owns the name Wonkblog, said a person with knowledge of the arrangement, and could continue it even without Mr. Klein.

News of Mr. Klein’s proposal for a new website was first reported by The Huffington Post.  […]

In an interview about that move earlier this week, Ms. Swisher said that they had decided against working in a large media company because “there is a lot of competition for resources, and there isn’t always the same willingness to take risks.”

Mr. Klein is also a policy analyst for MSNBC, where he sometimes fills in for other hosts, and he writes for Bloomberg View. He is married to Annie Lowrey, a Times reporter.

Read more here.

 

Thanks for sharing!