Dear Ashish:

I apologize for the delay in responding.

The Washington Post has been carrying these “affiliate links” for many years, well before Jeff Bezos acquired The Post. These links also appear on the websites of many major publications, including the New York Times. Here is a Los Angeles Times story on the subject:

https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-amazon-affiliate-20161024-snap-story.html

Wirecutter, a product review site mentioned prominently in that article, is now owned by the New York Times. It continues to carry links to Amazon.

Naturally, the purpose is to get a percentage of sales through those links as an additional source of revenue.

These links have been standard industry practice for many years and have nothing to do with boosting another business associated with Bezos. They are no more a conflict for us than they would be other media companies that use identical links. We have other arm’s length business relationships with Amazon – computer services, for example – as do other media companies. We negotiate with Amazon just as any other company does.

For us, the links represent a tiny portion of our revenue, and for Amazon it has to be an infinitesimal portion of revenue.

Sincerely,

Martin Baron
Executive Editor
The Washington Post