Marty Baron

It was not in the context of Watergate, really, but

It came well after that, and the judge had talked about democracy dying behind closed doors.

We had tried a bunch of others.

I think many of us were skeptical of that as a motto or mission statement.

You know, you don't know many marketing people who say that you should include death and darkness in your motto.

There are very few.

We tried light, but it sounded too self-adulatory or it sounded cult-like, actually.

So we avoided that and we struggled with probably a thousand different options.

And then finally, I think maybe an exasperation, Bezos said, well, let's just go with democracy dies in darkness.

And I was fine.

We don't have to talk about it anymore.

And it was a huge hit.

It was a real huge hit.

And it got criticized in the way that you have suggested.

And in other ways, one person talked about it as our new goth vibe, but it was hugely popular.

People can cite it all over the world.

I

I've traveled all over the world.

Everybody knows it.

And that's what Bezos wanted.