The Washington Post's opinion section has published numerous editorials and columns championing the expansion of data centers across America—promoting them as essential for economic growth and competition with China. Yet according to a recent analysis in Washingtonian, the paper rarely discloses a significant conflict: its owner, Jeff Bezos, stands to profit substantially from this advocacy. Amazon Web Services, the Bezos-founded company the Post is owned by, operates hundreds of data centers globally and is currently spending about sixty billion dollars building new facilities. AWS is by far Amazon's most profitable division—more lucrative than retail and e-commerce—making data centers crucial to Bezos's wealth. The Post's news division has been more skeptical about data centers, properly disclosing these connections. But the opinion side frequently omits any mention of Bezos's financial stake, even when discussing data center construction in Northern Virginia, home to hundreds of facilities near the Post's own headquarters. The newspaper's ethics policy pledges to avoid conflicts of interest and to level with readers, yet experts say the pattern of promotional coverage without disclosure undermines the credibility essential to journalism.

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