I’m concerned that it would look really shady for OpenPhil to do so, but maybe Sam Bankman-Fried or another very big EA donor could do it—but then the purchaser needs to figure out who to pick to actually manage things, since they aren’t experts themselves. (And they need to ensure that their control doesn’t undermine the publication’s credibility—which seems quite tricky!)
It could only be billionaires who are running out of donation targets. If Bezos can buy WaPo, then less prominent billionaires can buy less popular media with much less (though not zero) controversy. But I agree that it only works well if you have EA-leaning talent to work there, especially at the executive level.
Who should buy them?
I’m concerned that it would look really shady for OpenPhil to do so, but maybe Sam Bankman-Fried or another very big EA donor could do it—but then the purchaser needs to figure out who to pick to actually manage things, since they aren’t experts themselves. (And they need to ensure that their control doesn’t undermine the publication’s credibility—which seems quite tricky!)
It could only be billionaires who are running out of donation targets. If Bezos can buy WaPo, then less prominent billionaires can buy less popular media with much less (though not zero) controversy. But I agree that it only works well if you have EA-leaning talent to work there, especially at the executive level.