原文作者：david

　audie cornish （host）： the sale of the washington post to amazon founder jeff bezos struck npr media correspondent david folkenflik as a bit surprising. given the tough times in the newspaper business， david sought to figure out why smart people with no apparent ties to journalism would want to buy these things anyway.
 　　david folkenflik： donald graham is the chairman of the washington post company， the son and grandson of its leaders for the past 80 years. and along with his 1）niece， the publisher katharine weymouth， graham had to admit the family simply didn’t have the answers to questions about the paper’s future.
 　　donald graham： katharine and i started to look at the numbers， realized that this year， 2013， would be the seventh 2）straight year of significant declining revenues. [论文网] 
 　　folkenflik： graham spoke in a video posted on the post’s website.
　　graham： we knew we could keep the post alive. we knew it could survive. but our aspirations for the post have always been higher up than that. so we went to see if we could find a buyer.
 　　folkenflik： or， one might think， a 3）sucker. jeff bezos just paid $250，000，000 for an unprofitable newspaper that doesn’t look likely to reverse its fortunes anytime soon. why would a smart business leader do that？ i turned for answers to brian tierney， the public relations executive who led a 4）consortium to take over the philadelphia inquirer and daily news. he became publisher and said he was moved， as he saw the effects of his reporters’ work exposing local corruption， injustice and crime.
 　　brian tierney： and i thought： thank you， god， for putting me here at this point in my career. because， i mean， i loved being part of helping verizon sell， you know， phone service， and i’m proud of the work we did for the pennsylvania lottery. but this， you felt like this is the people’s work.
 　　folkenflik： those 5）beleaguered philadelphia papers have since changed hands twice. but whatever the economics， owning a major newspaper buys you a seat at the national table. mort zuckerman， once solely a successful real estate investor， became a familiar face on national tv public affairs shows only after he became the owner of the new york daily news and other publications.
 　　cathy merrill williams： well， look， there’s always been 6）egos that have bought newspapers. if you go back to the 1930s， you had people like dorothy schiff that came from a big banking family that bought the new york post. so there’s always been an ego play.

　　folkenflik： cathy merrill williams is publisher of washingtonian magazine. she has ink in her veins. when she was 5， she first started the presses at the annapolis capital newspaper owned by her family. after the death of her father in 2006， the merrills sold their newspapers to a small media company.
 　　wil

liams： the big difference now is there is a play of people with money who want to see if they can reinvent an industry. it’s more fun， it’s more exciting， it’s more challenging， and they’re looking at it as an opportunity to remake the future of journalism and media.
 　　folkenflik： the media analyst and consultant ken doctor says bezos， who’ll own the post personally， is unlikely to use his new property to 7）goose the profits of amazon.
 　　ken doctor： the 8）payoff is clearly not financial. he doesn’t need more money. the payoff is doing something that other people haven’t done. he sees technology as a great positive 9）disrupter in human life. and he believes that’s what he’s done with amazon. he believes that it could be done for news.
 　　folkenflik： doctor， who recently consulted for the post on 10）instituting a digital pay wall， says newspapers would do well to embrace amazon’s specialty of serving and satisfying customers quickly and effectively. but doctor says that other than offering assurances of editorial integrity， bezos has not signaled how he expects to lead the post.
 　　doctor： we’re going back to the future. question is， are we getting the right billionaires？ and we don’t know that answer yet.
 　　folkenflik： bezos has asked katharine weymouth to continue on as publisher. she is said to be sad at the loss of the post but relieved to be heading into an era when she can invest in the paper rather than continue cutting costs year after year.
　　奥迪·科尼什（主持人）：亚马逊创始人杰夫·贝索斯收购了《华盛顿邮报》，（这一消息）让npr媒体记者戴维·福肯弗利克为之震惊。WWW.11665.CoM考虑到报纸行业的艰难时世，戴维试图弄明白那些跟新闻业没有明显关系的精明企业家究竟为什么想要收购这些企业。
 　　戴维·福肯弗利克：唐纳德·格雷厄姆是华盛顿邮报公司的董事长，也是过去80年里该企业几代掌门人的儿子和孙子。他和他的侄女、报纸发行人凯瑟琳·韦莫斯一起，不得不承认家族并没有关于报纸未来发展问题的答案。
 　　唐纳德·格雷厄姆：我和凯瑟琳开始看报表，意识到2013年将是年收入连续明显下降的第七年。
　　福肯弗利克：格雷厄姆在邮报网站发布的视频声明里如是说。
　　格雷厄姆：我们知道我们能让《华盛顿邮报》存活，我们知道它能生存下去。但是我们对《邮报》的期望向来比那样更高，所以我们去看看能不能找到买家。
　　福肯弗利克：或者，有人会认为，是找个易受骗的傻子。杰夫·贝索斯刚以2.5亿美元收购了这家不盈利的报纸，这家报纸看来不会在短期内扭转它的命运。为什么一个聪明的企业领导人要这样做？我向布莱恩·蒂尔尼寻求答案，他是公共关系执行官，曾联合一个财团收购了《费城问询报》和《费城每日新闻》。他成为了报纸发行人，他说自己深受感动，因为他看到自己的记者在披露当地腐败、不公平和犯罪事实所产生的影响。
 　　布莱恩·蒂尔尼：我在心里说：感谢上帝，把我放在职业生涯中的这个位置。我的意思是，我乐意成为威瑞森电信电话服务销售的一员，我也以我们为宾夕法尼亚州彩票所做的工作为傲。然而，你会觉得经营报纸才是真正为人民服务的工作。
 　　福肯弗利克：那些饱受困扰的费城报纸已经两次转手，无论经济状况如何，拥有一家大型报纸让你在国家占有一席之位。莫特·祖克曼曾经只是一名成功的房地产投资商，他成为《纽约每日新闻》和其他出版物的所有人后才成为国家电视公共事务节目的常客。
 　　凯茜·梅里尔·威廉斯：是的，你看，收购报纸行业向来是一种满足自我的行为。回顾20世纪30年代，来自大银行家族的多萝西·希夫收购了《纽约邮报》。所以那始终是一种满足自我的游戏。
 　　福肯弗利克：凯茜·梅里尔·威廉斯是《华盛顿人》杂志的发行人，报纸是她的家族生意。五岁的时候，她就开始接触在首府安纳波利斯由她家族经营的报纸。2006年她父亲去世后，梅里尔家族把他们的报纸企业卖给了一家小媒体公司。
 　　威廉斯：现在最大的不同是这是有钱人的一种游戏，想看看他们是否能让一个企业起死回生。那样更好玩、更令人兴奋、更有挑战性，他们把收购的行为看作是再造新闻业和媒体业未来的机会。
 　　福肯弗利克：媒体分析师和顾问肯·多科特说到，贝索斯是以个人名义拥有《华盛顿邮报》，不太可能用他的新资产来提高亚马逊的利润。
　　肯·多科特：这次的收购很明显并不是为了商业目的。他不需要更多的钱，这次收购是在做其他人没做过的事情。他把科技看作是改善人类生活的巨大作用者。他相信他就是这样经营亚马逊的，也相信同样的做法照样适用于新闻业。
 　　福肯弗利克：多科特最近为《华盛顿邮报》提议制定一个数字付费墙，他说报纸会很好地接受亚马逊快速并有效地服务和满足顾客的专业性，但多科特还说除了保证编辑诚信，贝索斯仍没有表示他将如何领导《邮报》。多科特：我们准备回到未来，然而问题是，这些亿万富翁们就是我们需要的正确人选吗？我们仍

然要拭目以待。
 　　福肯弗利克：贝索斯邀请凯瑟琳·韦莫斯继续当发行人。听说她在失去《邮报》的时候很伤心，但也安心地准备迈进新时代，这样她可以在报纸上投资，而不是年复一年地不断削减成本。