I’m posting this here on February 4, 2026, having no idea how long the WaPo will keep this video up on their YouTube channel.

Tom Hanks lent (I sure hope he got paid!) his voice to this stern warning, which ran during the Super Bowl seven years ago. Not long after billionaire Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post lock, stock, and ink barrels, the masthead was changed to warn, “Democracy dies in darkness.”

Re-watching the video, in light of the actions of Bezos over the past few years and today’s news about eviscerating cuts to the newsroom that printed the Pentagon Papers, broke the Watergate story, and more Pulitzer Prizes than any other outlet but, I can’t help but wonder: was this ominous music and stern voice-over meant as warning?

Was this not a new slogan but a corporate goal instead?

Why would Bezos turn off the lights? Of course, that’s a rhetorical question, as the answer is obvious: to curry favor with felon-in-chief.

It’s a damn shame to see this institution gutted in my lifetime by such a coward.