Five Best Friday Columns

Anand Giridharadas in The New York Times on the changing nature of New York City: "A fair indication of where things stand may be the New York television show of the moment, HBO’s Girls," argues Giridharadas. "A show about flailing, post-collegiate millennials, it has a cast that in real life reflects the coming of a New York whose function is to help successful people transmit their advantages down the genetic line rather than discover new successes from obscurity or even Queens." Giridharadis wonders if the New York that Patti Smith wrote about in Just Kids is giving way to a city that's inaccessible to those looking for a fresh start. Economist and business consultant Umair Haque tweets, "Bingo," while Nicole Hong at The Wall Street Journal calls the piece a "must-read."

Julius Genachowski and Steven Waldman in The New Republic on what Jeff Bezos can teach The Washington Post: While running Amazon, Jeff Bezos has always been focused on the business' long term profitability, while newspapers have been incredibly shortsighted, especially where digital is concerned. "As bleak as the industry sometimes seems, the news media can be profitable—but only if companies better serve their customers, transform their business models, and alter their financial time-horizons," they write. "That includes having the kind of patience that Bezos demonstrates at Amazon." Craig Silverman at Poynter tweets that this was "maybe the best read about Bezos/Amazon/WaPo and what's next." NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen adds that "Much of the 'Bezos bought The Washington Post, now what?' commentary has been disposable. This is not."