Elon Musk, during an appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience” on Friday, said he supported fellow tech tycoon Jeff Bezos’ decision to revamp the opinion section of the Washington Post, the paper he owns, to focus on “two pillars”: personal liberties and free markets.
“I think it makes sense,” the X owner told Rogan. “He’s just talking about the opinion pieces … so the regular journalism stays the same.”
Musk’s comment comes two days after Bezos announced he was changing the approach of WaPo’s opinion section — a move that drew the ire of several WaPo staffers and mainstream reporters and led to opinion editor David Shipley quitting.
Rogan agreed with Musk, saying WaPo’s previous model was a “detriment” to its business.
“You’re seeing over and over again [that] people just don’t want to hear all of this s–t,” Rogan said.
To Rogan’s point, the American public’s trust in the mainstream media is at an all-time low, with a Gallup poll in October finding only 31% of respondents had a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence that the news was being reported accurately. For comparison, in 1976, soon after the Watergate Scandal, 72% of Americans said they trusted the media to report the news accurately.
Bezos’ announcement this week follows his decision to spike the WaPo editorial board’s planned endorsement of Kamala Harris leading up to the 2024 election. The Amazon founder said in December it was the “right decision” because a Harris endorsement would have added a “perception of bias” to its coverage.
In related news, President Trump, in an interview published Friday with The Spectator, said he viewed Bezos and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg as his “bitter enemies” during his first term. But that has changed recently, with both Zuckerberg and Bezos joining Musk and a handful of other tech executives at the president’s inauguration last month.
Musk and Rogan also took a moment to rip mainstream media outlets during their podcast. The Tesla boss said those who listen to “legacy” outlets are “living in a different world” from everyone else.
“The media is incredibly partisan. Almost all of the media is left-shifted,” Musk told Rogan.
He then said the Associated Press — which he called “Associated Propaganda” — ran a bogus story this week saying the Department of Government Efficiency was firing air traffic controllers; Musk said that was not the case and that DOGE was instead looking to rehire former air traffic controllers.
A moment earlier, Rogan said most media outlets are irate with the cuts DOGE is making to the federal government.
“You only have Fox News that is pointing out the ridiculous fraud and waste,” Rogan said.
You can watch the full 191 minute Musk-Rogan interview below:
