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Looks like our favorite ex-U of M president has taken a Midwestern rivalry to a new level--PrezBo is set to join the Washington Post Company’s Board of Directors on May 10, where he will govern the company with 11 others. Word has it that Bollinger was nominated because of the help he could give Post Co.’s Kaplan (although Bwog maintains the naïve hope that it was really for his First Amendment fetish). Either way, he’s still being paid $70,000 per year for the job.
Bollinger is already on three other boards, working with the Kresge Foundation, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and most recently, the New York Federal Reserve.
Bollinger has only been nominated, but his election to the board seems certain, and he has confirmed he’ll take the position. However, his nomination has come under fire for its potential to entangle and stifle him with the dealings of big media. He’ll also want to stand up against some of the Post Co.’s shadier stances, such as its opposition to net neutrality, a topic that strikes especially close to home.
But if he can pull it off, the directorship will provide him with a perfect opportunity to prove his commitment to free speech, which might exonerate Columbia from the endless fallout of a certain incident last October. It will also be good a chance to use that PrezBo charm on some potential donors – his fellow board members will include Warren Buffet, Barry Diller, and Melinda Gates.
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14 Comments
@fugh Good news…the Post needed an official wrist slapping free speech hypocrite (w/ bad hair.)
@dictatorship ftw!
@modern american dictatorship!
@haha i read it the same way
@HAHA “But if he can pull it off, the directorship will provide him with a perfect opportunity…”
Does it say more about me or about him that I read “directorship” as “dictatorship” the first time I read that line??
@aluminum That’s creepy…I also read it as dictatorship the first time around.
@yea! I mean, the Internet is not something you just dump something on. It’s not a big truck. It’s a series of tubes.
@capitalist Screw net neutrality. Network operators should be free to charge customers for premium-level service, just as in any other business. Advocating net neutrality is like saying that airlines have to fly everyone in the same class.
@congratulations! Once again, the libertarian takes the prize for settling the question without nuance and with a painfully basic understanding of the situation!
@Uhhh That’s not right at all. Operators already charge content providers at graduated rates, and airlines use the sky, which isn’t the same thing.
How about legislating that not only do people have to pay a toll to drive on the freeway to your house (present conditions), but you have to pay the same toll for encouraging them to come over?
Transportation metaphors are disingenuous here. Internet traffic travels over common carrier lines that were installed with municipal, state, and federal assistance and approval; in no sense is it appropriate for providers at both ends of the line to charge for other people’s pipes.
@huh? midwestern rivalry?
@too lazy to click? The article from the link mentions that the former president of Michigan State (rival to U of Michigan) is going to be on the board for the parent company of the Wall Street Journal (competitor to Washington Post).
@you might also note that the new editor of the Wall Street Journal is CC ’83.
@sheeit 83 was a great class. obama, now this guy. was stephanopoulous 82 or 3? other classes just aren’t pulling their weight.