Saturday, May 28, 2005

Real Consequences for Newsweek

America is a free Republic but we are also a capitalist nation. Newsweek put out a defective product that managed to get people killed and yet they have not suffered any real consequences. Imagine what would happen to Ford's stock if they put out a defective product that killed as many people in such a short period of time.

Take a look at Newsweek's parent company - The Washington Post Company to see if they have suffered any real monetary consequences since the infamous issue.



Shortly after the May 1st issue of Newsweek - the stock plunged $40 but now about half of that has been made up and the stock seems to be trending back up. It seems to me that the punishment has not fit the crime in this instance. Among the Washington Post Companies holdings are:

- The Washington Post
- The Daily Herald (an Everett, Washington paper)
- Newsweek
- Kaplan Education (the test prep folks)
- WDIV - Channel 4 in Detroit
- KPRC - Channel 2 in Houston
- WPLG - Channel 10 in Miami
- WKMG - Channel 6 in Orlando
- KSAT - Channel 12 in San Antonio
- WJXT - Channel 4 in Jacksonville
- Cable One (an operator of cable systems is the West, Mid West and South West)
- Slate (the online "magazine")

I don't own any Washington Post Company stock (and I won't buy any) and I really don't have any contact with most of their holdings but I'll be damned if I ever spend another dime on an issue of Newsweek or buy a Washington Post newspaper or ever click on any articles from Slate.

That's my own personal protest and I'm sticking to it.

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